First published 2016
Jean Edward Smith presents George W. Bush as a president who bypassed his advisors to make critical decisions himself. Smith argues that Bush, not Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, or Condoleezza Rice, controlled foreign policy personally. The author shows how Bush's religious convictions shaped his approach to international affairs, viewing complex situations through a lens of good versus evil. Smith traces how this worldview led to the Iraq invasion, which he calls potentially the worst foreign policy mistake by any president. The biography examines Bush's domestic overreaction to September 11th and its impact on civil liberties. Smith demonstrates that Bush only began accepting expert guidance during the 2008 financial crisis, when he approved measures that contradicted his political beliefs but helped prevent economic collapse. This comprehensive assessment reveals a presidency marked by personal decision making that often ignored professional counsel, resulting in sustained negative approval ratings.
Genres: biography, political-science, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: United States
Period: 21st Century
832 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster