Synopses & Reviews
The Bushes are the family nobody really knows, says Kevin Phillips. This popular lack of acquaintanceandmdash;nurtured by gauzy imagery of Maine summer cottages, gray-haired national grandmothers, July Fourth sparklers, and cowboy bootsandmdash;has let national politics create a dynasticized presidency that would have horrified America's founding fathers. They, after all, had led a revolution against a succession of royal Georges.
In this devastating book, onetime Republican strategist Phillips reveals how four generations of Bushes have ascended the ladder of national power since World War One, becoming entrenched within the American establishmentandmdash;Yale, Wall Street, the Senate, the CIA, the vice presidency, and the presidencyandmdash;through a recurrent flair for old-boy networking, national security involvement, and political deception. By uncovering relationships and connecting facts with new clarity, Phillips comes to a stunning conclusion: The Bush family has systematically used its financial and social empireandmdash;its "aristocracy"andmdash;to gain the White House, thereby subverting the very core of American democracy. In their ambition, the Bushes ultimately reinvented themselves with brilliant timing, twisting and turning from silver spoon Yankees to born-again evangelical Texans. As Americaandmdash;and the worldandmdash;holds its breath for the 2004 presidential election, American Dynasty explains how it happened and what it all means.
Review
A harrowing picture of national danger that no American reader will welcome, but that none should ignore. (
The New York Times Book Review)
An indispensable presentation of the case against things as they are. (Time)
Everyone should have access to what American Theocracy so powerfully tells us about our country at this critical time. (Chicago Sun-Times)
The story of the impending end of American supremacy. . . . [Phillips] brings all the strands together and puts them into context. (Salon.com)
Review
"and#91;Aand#93; devastating examination.... That this powerful argument has been made by Kevin Phillips should be a measure of how seriously it should be taken. He is not an idealogue of the left and he is not a conspiracy theorist....
American Dynasty is an important, troubling book that should be read everywhere with care."andnbsp;andmdash;
Washington Post "Kevin Phillips is no hotheaded bomb-thrower but a seasoned wise man with deep roots in the Republican party. American Dynasty is as depressing as it is brilliant and important." andmdash;Chicago Sun-Times
"If Howard Dean (or any other Democrat) is elected president of the United States this year, he (or she) will owe a debt of gratitude to Kevin Phillips." andmdash;New York Times Book Review
"Given this left-liberal publishing phenomenon, where evil Bushies lurk around every civic bend dismantling our constitutional rights, it is with welcome relief that political commentator and one-time GOP strategist Kevin Phillips has stepped into the fray and#8230; With great skill, Phillips illuminates how the Bush Dynasty has long used such old-boy organizations as Yaleandrsquo;s Skull and Bones, the CIA, Dillon Read, and most recently the Carlyle Group to further its main objective: political-economic power." andmdash;Mother Jones
"A must-read for anyone skeptical of President Bush and other members of the Texas clan..." andmdash;New York Daily News
"American Dynasty, written with the passion of a modern-day Tom Paine, recalls all too clearly the Founding Fatherandrsquo;s words, little more than 200 years later." andmdash;Seattle Times
Review
"A feisty, fearless, edgy book, blissfully bereft of academic jargon, propelled by the energy of an author with the bit in his teeth.and#8221;--The New York Times Book Review
Review
and#8220;In his amassing of mountains of facts from numerous monographs, Phillips has tried to do what most academic historians these days have not been much interested in doingand#8212;bring together all the meticulous research that has been going on for decades and turn it into a comprehensive and readable book designed for general readers. Much of what Phillips has written is clear and free of jargon. His assessments of the various military situations, especially those faced by the British, are always realistically based, and his judgments of what was possible and what was not possible for the British to do are always sound.and#8221;--The New York Review of Books
Review
"Enthralling."--Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed review)
Review
"Impressively authoritative...[A] deeply researched, meticulously argued, multidimensional history."--Kirkus (starred review)
Review
"A solid, well-argued, and informative re-examination of our beginnings as a nation-state."--Booklist
Synopsis
An explosive examination of the coalition of forces that threatens the nation, from the bestselling author of American Dynasty In his two most recent bestselling books, American Dynasty and Wealth and Democracy, Kevin Phillips established himself as a powerful critic of the political and economic forces that ruleand#151;and imperiland#151;the United States, tracing the ever more alarming path of the emerging Republican majorityand#146;s rise to power. Now Phillips takes an uncompromising view of the current age of global overreach, fundamentalist religion, diminishing resources, and ballooning debt under the GOP majority. With an eye to the past and a searing vision of the future, Phillips confirms what too many Americans are still unwilling to admit about the depth of our misgovernment.
Synopsis
In his acclaimed book
American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips warned of the perilous interaction of debt, financial recklessness, and the spiking cost (and growing scarcity) of oil- warnings that are proving to be frighteningly accurate. Now, in his most significant and timely book yet, Phillips takes the full measure of this crisis. They are a part of what he calls "bad money"- not just the depreciated dollar, but also the dangerous attitudes and the flawed products of wayward mega-finance. His devastating conclusion: In its hubris, the financial sector has hijacked the American economy and put our very global future at risk-and it may be too late to stop it.
Synopsis
The contrarian historian and analyst upends the conventional reading of the American RevolutionIn 1775, iconoclastic historian and bestselling author Kevin Phillips punctures the myth that 1776 was the watershed year of the American Revolution. He suggests that the great events and confrontations of 1775andmdash;Congressandrsquo;s belligerent economic ultimatums to Britain, New Englandandrsquo;s rage militaire, the exodus of British troops and expulsion of royal governors up and down the seaboard, and the new provincial congresses and hundreds of localand#160; committees that quickly reconstituted local authority in Patriot handsandshy;andmdash;achieved aand#160; sweeping Patriot control of territory and local government that Britain was never able to overcome.and#160; These each added to the Revolutionandrsquo;s essential momentum so when the British finally attacked in great strength the following year, they could not regain the control they had lost in 1775.
Analyzing the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations, as well as the roles of ethnicity, religion, and class, Phillips tackles the eighteenth century with the same skill and insights he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics.and#160; The result is a dramatic narrative brimming with original insights. 1775 revolutionizes our understanding of Americaandrsquo;s origins.
Synopsis
In his acclaimed book
American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips warned of the perilous interaction of debt, financial recklessness, and the spiking cost (and growing scarcity) of oil- warnings that are proving to be frighteningly accurate. Now, in his most significant and timely book yet, Phillips takes the full measure of this crisis. They are a part of what he calls "bad money"- not just the depreciated dollar, but also the dangerous attitudes and the flawed products of wayward mega-finance. His devastating conclusion: In its hubris, the financial sector has hijacked the American economy and put our very global future at risk-and it may be too late to stop it.
Synopsis
A groundbreaking account of the American Revolutionand#151;from the bestselling author of American Dynasty In this major new work, iconoclastic historian and political chronicler Kevin Phillips upends the conventional reading of the American Revolution by debunking the myth that 1776 was the struggleand#8217;s watershed year. Focusing on the great battles and events of 1775, Phillips surveys the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations of the crucial year that was the harbinger of revolution, tackling the eighteenth century with the same skill and perception he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics. The result is a dramatic account brimming with original insights about the country we eventually became.
About the Author
Kevin Phillips has been a political and economic commentator for more than three decades. A former White House strategist, he is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and NPR and writes for Harperandrsquo;s and Time. His books include New York Times bestsellers The Politics of Rich and Poor and Wealth and Democracy.