George W. Bush – Cannonball Read 17

Early Fall Leftovers

To Start A War: How the Bush Administration Took Us Into Iraq by Robert Draper

The Travelers by Chris Pavone

A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Dark Fire by CJ Sansom

The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation by Robert Rand

Stasi Child by David Young

The Cover Wife by Dan Fesperman

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

The Devil Knows You're Dead by Lawrence Block

October 14, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

I’ve read some interesting stuff lately and I wish I had made more time to document it but life gets in the way that life sometimes does. Not all bad, just life. To Start A War**** I had a long thing here about connecting this to the 2024 election but I don’t want to talk current electoral politics on here, at least the specifics of them. A good book if you want to know the intelligence (ha) perspective of how we wound up in a […]

J’Accuse

To Start A War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq by Robert Draper

September 12, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

When Dick Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris this past week, I blanched. I understand the political appeal of Cheney’s endorsement. And I’m on board for whatever it takes to win this election. I am a single issue voter and that issue is my deep desire to not have Donald Trump involved in any aspect of my life. But it’s still disheartening to watch people who want Trump held accountable cheer for Cheney because we let all of these folks off the hook. Robert Draper tries to […]

The Book We Need For This Moment

Reign of Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump by Spencer Ackerman

August 24, 2021 by Jake Leave a Comment

The best, simplest review I can give it is to quote from political operative Robert Wheel (@bobbybigwheel on Twitter): You know it’s a good book because every page pisses you off. I was 17 years old when we invaded Iraq. At the time, I was a champion for the war because I believed our government. Why would our government lie? Even as I began to question things in 2003 and 2004, I still voted for George W. Bush in my first presidential election. I was […]

Theocons and Privatizing War

May 21, 2018 by Halbs Leave a Comment

I had just started my senior year of high school in September of 2001. I was eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch in front of the tv when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I went to school without really knowing what was going on, and in every class that day the teachers had the TVs on. I remember at lunch a classmate saying, “A whole lot of people are going to be dead, now.” My neighbors were Saudi and kept their kids home for […]

I’ve seen Fire and I’ve seen Reign

June 20, 2015 by ingres77 2 Comments

It is only fitting that perhaps the most contentious presidency of my lifetime gets a second look in my quest to read a biography for every president in US history. And while Decision Points was shockingly insightful and somewhat changed my opinion of George W. Bush, Days of Fire is far deeper and considerably more thorough. In many ways, this is for Bush what Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals was for Lincoln: an interwoven narrative exploring the characters of the particular administration being studied. […]

A panegyric to the paterfamilias

January 19, 2015 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

I was too young to really follow the presidency of Ronald Reagan. I have vague memories of the Cold War, but it always felt like a distant and insubstantial thing. It wasn’t until Desert Storm that world events really started to register through the haze of childish indifference. So George H.W. Bush is indelibly connected, for good or ill, to the opening of my world and discovery of politics. While I can’t say I paid great attention to his administration, his was the first I […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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