The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment

Distinguished historians from MIT, Georgetown, Princeton, and other leading universities recount, almost exclusively, George W. Bush's failures, from the poorly planned and falsely fomented war in Iraq to the slow, tragic response to Hurricane Katrina. While none of the writers try for complete remove, they do an admirable job of bolstering their opinions with facts and even occasionally assess a rare success. Kevin M. Kruse, for instance, examines Bush's well-funded fight against AIDS in Africa, but also the collapse of his faith-based charitable programs. In "Minorities, Multiculturalism and the President of George W. Bush," Gary Gerstle shows keen insight into Bush's relationship with Latinos and African-Americans, writing that Bush "proved surprisingly cavalier about the discharge of even basic government duties," words that will no doubt remind readers of the disintegration of the American economy at the end of Bush's second term. Despite its title, this isn't the first assessment of this divisive president, but it may be the most reactionary. (Oct.)