Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years

Save your money. This book is badly written and poorly researched (citing other books and articles that happen to reflect your own opinion does not constitute research). Full of innuendo, suggestion and speculation, there is nothing substantial here that proves anything about anything.

The stuff about the JFK assassination and Bush Sr. being in Dallas that day is laughable. LBJ and Nixon were in Dallas that day as well, so what next? They were both in on it as well? Judging by the standard of evidence in this book, they might as well have been. Being in Dallas on the day Kennedy was killed certainly does not mean that someone was involved in an assassination.

The author then goes on to suggest that Bush Sr. was involved in a conspiracy to oust Nixon, hence Watergate. This is basically a rehashing of ridiculous theories put forward in other books but with Bush Sr. included, and can be added to these volumes of twaddle.

A genuine investigative book on the Bushes, especially the disastrous W, would be something to welcome, but this isn't it. This is unsubstantiated drivel. If I could have given it zero stars, I would have.

WOW! The closest I can come t o describing this is to say it is a multi-level, generational expose of "incestuous" relationships WITHOUT the sex! How can that be? Read it and learn. If I'd known how pervasive and of such longstanding and widespread these relationships.... I would've started with a 14' x 14' white board and diagrammed a kind of "family" tree and still would have had to write small! - really small. Someone said: "What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." This is like THE largest can of worms; it was hard to keep track, but Russ Baker did and showed how each player was connected to the next - sometimes it was linear and other times it went sideways, but always came back to the beginning family of Bush. Oh my.

Sorry to say, but this is one of the worst books I've read over the last 12 months. I could manage somehow to read through the pages where the author is trying to connect the Bushes to the Kennedy assassination. But ... when I thought I was through - it started all over again.
I couldn't believe anything.
The whole story could have found a better place in one of the tabloids.

This review is from: Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America (Hardcover)
Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America

French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre said that "words are loaded pistols." In the hands of Russ Baker, they are hydrogen bombs. On each and every page of his masterpiece, "Family of Secrets," he exploses the myths and lies that powerful forces have perpetratred on the American consciousness. He digs beneath the surface in a form of journalistic archeology to reveal the hidden history of one of America's most powerful families, leaving no stone unturned. Moreover, he names all of his sources and documents the materials he relies on to unmask the hypocrisy behind the myth. From Prescott Bush's ties to Nazi Germany to Poppy Bush's secret role in the Watergate scandal that ousted Richard Nixon, which was, in fact, a "silent coup," to George W. Bush's deceit in launching the war in Iraq, Russ Baker unmasks the truth with a relentless brilliance unmatched by his peers. His publisher, Bloomsberry, is to be congratulated for its confidence in Russ Baker at a time when most publishers are hedging their bets and looking over their shoulders in acts of self-censorship. Baker's revelations about George W. Bush's private life is worth the price of the book alone. Here is Bush, forcing himself on a Danish beauty, stripping to the nude, while getting another girl friend he knocks up an abortion, and then later, as president, opposing abortion and cutting funding for organizations that provide information about birth control. How he managed to get the Danish beauty to go on record, as he does with other key players in Watergate and the Kennedy assassination, is nothing short of astonishing. He traces the true history of Poppy Bush's career, from his early ties to the CIA he pretended never existed while declaring himself "out of the loop," to his strange phone call from Dallas to the FBI on the day of Kennedy's assassination, pointing a finger at a suspect who was in fact totally innocent, to his manipulation of Watergate to get rid of Nixon, is a secret story forced out of the shadows by the powerful documentation by Baker in this tour de force that keeps you turning the pages in asonishment. What he discloses is America's War of the Roses, as powerful families fight to the death for ultimate power. The history of Lee Harvey Osward in the world of wealth, power and intelligence that was Dallas, Texas at the time, is amazing. The anodyne courses in political science and history at American colleges and universities need very much to inject Family of Secrets into the curriculum so that young Americans can be more able to understand what America is truly about as a new president strives to change and reform it. It puts the dots together in a way that makes any further naivety amongst Americans impossible. What he tells us simply cannot be ignored. One can fully expect the Establishment media to go after this book in typical fashion, as they make their usual attempt to cover up what can no longer be denied. Family of Secrets takes to what Cyril Connolly so aptly descibed as the "blood crossroads of literature and politics." After Family of Secrets, neither will ever be the same.
Comment

The Author does a great job with his research about said family. "The Bush Crime Family" by Roger Stone heavily cites this book. You may want to read both of them. From Prescott to GHW to GW to the current ones; the book analyzes their behavior with evidence. From what I have researched in the past the book is very accurate. No family in this nation should have this kind of power. I am a Republican, but the Bushes are Elitists. There is a difference. Anyone in the US that is against Monarchy & Oligarchy should read this book. There is also a lot of interesting evidence that proves GHW Bush's involvement in JFK's Murder. A must read for anyone that worships at the foot of their "altar."

I have a great deal of respect for Russ Baker as a journalist and as an important voice in a field that has critically failed the American public. I did not read this book when it first came out. Suffice to say I had a very bad case of Bush burn-out. Having just completed Family of Secrets, I find it a challenge to review. It was captivating yet frustrating, and in the end, I believe my ambivalence is rooted in Baker's references to the Kennedy assassination and his painting of Nixon as basically a victim when it comes to Watergate.

I fully believe that the Bush family was more than capable of system manipulation of the grandest scope. I was apalled at the lack of media scrutiny on the events that led to Poppy being elevated to CIA Director, his time spent there, and his activities afterward. But to tie him to the Kennedy murder in any way more than by the thinnest tangent is a fanciful reach. I am well-versed in the history of that horrific event, and I think Baker's interpretations of some of the connections between Bush and some of the fringe players surrounding it is a stretch that distracts from his very important message. Knowing many of these people, as he would have in the circles he traveled, does not mean direct involvement or even knowledge, and to opine that his actively creating alibis for his whereabouts during those dramatic days implies a foresight of his desire for the Oval Office so far in advance it just does not seem possible.

I find his interpretation of the events surrounding Watergate as worse; more than a stretch, it seems to be a pre-ordained conclusion made to fit around the facts as opposed to the facts leading to the truth. Baker basically says the oil industry's unhappiness with Nixon's oil and foreign policies triggered a conspiracy to frame Nixon for the Watergate events. He ignores Nixon's almost mythic level of paranoia when he says it is not logical that Nixon would OK efforts on his behalf to employ dirty tricks to win an election he had in the bag. I see this as utter non-sense. Nixon's continuing MO since his first campaign was to do just that.

Unfortunately, those are two large themes contained in the work that the author continually comes back to, and for me those conclusions leave Baker vulnerable to criticism of near-fanatacism.

There is so much good in here; the exposure of W's friendships and the network that obviously helped to obscure his behavior around the time he was to have served in the National Guard, the entire history of Poppy and the Saudis, and the roots of the family's entitlement and hypocrisies that nearly left this country in ruins. Had the concentration been kept to those matters, it would have been a more streamlined, digestible, and unquestionable historical record.

This is a book worth reading, but I believe calls for some serious editing and well-placed skepticism by the reader.

Russ Baker has a clear bias, but the research is amazing. In spite of his bias, the facts are what they are—true. Personally, I hope the reader understands this is not about “Republicans” vs. “Democrats”. If you read this book and come away still thinking that there is a difference between the “Left” and the “Right”, then you’re not paying attention. The only reason I did not give it a full 5 stars is because of the difficulty I had in keeping up with all the players and details. One must remember that these people purposefully obfuscate their own lives for these very reasons—the “devil” is in the details. Baker is to be commended for his depth and level of research, and given the impossible task of making it easy for the masses, he does as well as anyone could expect. The reader must read this book with an open mind leaving any pre-conceived ideas behind. I would sure like to see Baker do an equal work on the Clintons—to include Obama, who for all practical purposes is a continuation of both Bush and Clinton. This next Presidential election/campaign should be interesting… looks like another Bush and another Clinton are going to be our “choices”.

Sorry, didn't buy this book - there was no intention to support this radical leftist. He obviously is profiting from his political position. I read in one of the reviews that the reviewer read ~120 pages and ran to the bathroom to vomit. I am not that kind of guy - I read 3-4 pages altogether, but that was enough (I wanted to keep my meals).
Here are my points: I don't like Bushes - they are way too far from what I see as a conservatism and even common sense. But being such a vicious hater of Republicans comes from one source: it pays well. I remember being in technical college back in Soviet Union during 1964 when Khruchev was ousted. Of course we had political science courses - they were almost on par with our majors and obligatory. So, one day the political science professors were climbing up the Khruches's behind without lubricant and the next day they were reading so-called "closed" letter from Politburo blaming poor sap for everything. This "professor" Baker reminds me of the Soviet commie professors. I am sorry for his students!

"Wow!!!! This book is a tome of information and documented fact concerning the Bushes, father and son. I began to question the narrative of the Bush Administration once we commenced the use of White Phosphorous in Fallujah in late 2004, a known war crime. Operation Phantom Fury, the battle in which I personally served, is just one of many crimes committed by the Bush Dynasty. This book is excellent and well written, but one must have a pen ready to record astonishing facts. The wealth of information in this book requires patience and a willingness to reread certain excerpts to get the whole picture Russ Baker is providing. Hence, the facts are numerous.

One of the most prophetic facts evinced in this book came from a ghostwriter hired to help George W. write his pre-2000 campaign book. The author, who was eventually fired and not allowed to write the book, stated, in 1999, that George W. openly discussed invading Iraq. Bush's reasoning for such an endeavor was none other than to aggrandize himself in the approval polls and in the public's eye. Many will label this a conspiracy theory book, but facts are facts and hard to dispute. Those who usually attack such works only do so to avert any potential reader from partaking of this marathon. In society, many use the "Conspiracy Theory" line as a copout as opposed to actually looking at the evidence provided. This method helps them maintain their blissful state of ignorance.

Mr. Baker took great pains to ensure that each chapter is properly footnoted, giving the reader the opportunity to flip to the back and examine the source citation for him/herself. Not only is the book a great read, but it also can be used as a quick reference for facts dealing with the Bushes. This is a great work that effectively connects the dots of Bush Sr. and George W.'s misdoings in this country and how they got away with it. Another interesting topic in the book pertains to the Bushes deep connection to the bin Laden family. It seems that no one is willing to take on this topic and openly discuss it. However, Russ certainly does. Remain ignorant at your own risk. It is a must read for all concerned citizens. "

if you have heard this author speak, you can tell he has something to hide, and just cannot give you all the facts, then he refers you to buy his book, but you never get a straight answer either way .
p.t. barnum said .................