Grace & Steel
Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the Women of the Bush Dynasty
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Grace & Steel
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Narrated by:
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Eliza Foss
About this listen
From New York Times best-selling celebrity biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli comes Grace & Steel, the epic, hidden history of the exceptional women behind the greatest political dynasty of all time - the Bush family.
Best-selling author J. Randy Taraborrelli reveals the unsung heroines of the inimitable Bush family dynasty: not only First Ladies Barbara and Laura, but other colorful women whose stories have been left out of history for far too long, including Barbara’s mother-in-law, the formidable Dorothy Bush; the enigmatic Columba and the controversial Sharon; and Laura’s twins, Jenna and Barbara.
No matter the challenges related to power and politics, the women of the Bush dynasty always fought for equality in their marriages as they raised their children to be true to American values. In doing so, they inspired everyday Americans to do the same. Or, as Barbara Bush put it, “The future of this nation does not depend on what happens in the White House, but what happens in your house.”
Details from the book include:
The tragedy Barbara faced in burying her three-year-old daughter, Robin, and her struggle with depression over the decades that followed.
The tragic night a teenage Laura Bush accidentally killed a good friend—a story she did not discuss publicly for decades.
The revelation of the affair that almost doomed George HW's hopes for the presidency.
The truth behind the fraught relationship between Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush that culminated in an angry phone call during which Barbara told her she would never speak to her again - and she didn't.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press
"...a unique and colorful look at one of America’s most powerful political families." (Publishers Weekly)
"Where Taraborrelli excels is in excavating the personal histories of the three women and how they were forever shadowed by painful episodes in their lives. [The Bush women] created a singular, admirable legacy, and this book portrays them as genuine, struggling human beings." (Washington Post)
©2021 J. Randy Taraborrelli (P)2021 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Cindy Hensley was just out of college when she met and fell in love with the celebrated Navy hero John McCain. They embarked on a thrilling life together that put her at the center of American politics for over four decades. Stronger, her moving and inspiring memoir, tells the story of her adventurous life with John for the first time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Not What I Expected
- By DAK04 on 05-22-21
By: Cindy McCain
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Lady Bird Johnson
- An Oral History
- By: Michael L. Gillette
- Narrated by: Corinna May
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
Over a span of 18 years, Lady Bird Johnson recorded 47 oral history interviews with Michael Gillette and his colleagues. These conversations, just released in 2011, form the heart of Lady Bird Johnson: An Oral History, an intimate story of a shy young country girl's transformation into one of America's most effective and admired First Ladies.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic
- By Syd Young on 06-01-19
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First Women
- The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 600
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 531
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Story4 out of 5 stars 531
In one of the most underestimated - and challenging - positions in the world, the first lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Who is missing?
- By Southern belle on 05-07-16
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Team of Five
- The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 309
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 259
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 256
From the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Residence and First Women - also a New York Times best seller - comes a poignant, news-making look at the lives of the five former presidents in the wake of their White House years, including the surprising friendships they have formed through shared perspective and empathy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 06-18-20
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The Survivors
- A Story of War, Inheritance, and Healing
- By: Adam Frankel
- Narrated by: Adam Frankel, Rob Shapiro
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 136
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 123
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
Adam Frankel’s maternal grandparents survived the Holocaust and built new lives, with new names, in Connecticut. Though they tried to leave the horrors of their past behind, the pain they suffered crossed generational lines - a fact most apparent in the mental health of Adam’s mother. When Adam sat down with her to examine their family history in detail, he learned another shocking secret, this time one that unraveled Adam’s entire understanding of who he is.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing story
- By Alissa on 12-26-19
By: Adam Frankel
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Jackie, Ethel, Joan
- Women of Camelot
- By: J. Randy Taraborrelli
- Narrated by: Beth Fowler
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 130
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 130
What does it mean to be a Kennedy? If ever three women would be challenged and changed by marriage into a family, it would be Jacqueline Bouvier, Ethel Skakel, and Joan Bennett. None of these radiant brides could have ever been prepared for the fame, the family, and tragedies that would spring from their lives. As they struggled to cope with their husbands' infidelities, the harsh glare of the media, and the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, these women would learn what it meant to be sisters, reaching out to one another with comfort and consolation.
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3 out of 5 stars
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my first Kennedy book
- By colleen on 06-15-12
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Sex with Presidents
- The Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House
- By: Eleanor Herman
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
In this entertaining and eye-opening book, Eleanor Herman revisits some of the sex scandals that have rocked the nation's capital and shocked the public, while asking the provocative questions: does rampant adultery show a lack of character or the stamina needed to run the country? Or perhaps both? While Americans have judged their leaders' affairs harshly compared to other nations, did they mostly just hate being lied to? And do they now clearly care more about issues other than a politician’s sex life?
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1 out of 5 stars
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lots of speculation no facts
- By John Pyle on 11-30-20
By: Eleanor Herman
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Before and After
- The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society
- By: Judy Christie, Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,715
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,486
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,472
From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. The publication of Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours brought new awareness of Tann’s lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and award-winning journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of 15 adoptees in this book, many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Badly written
- By Stacie on 02-25-20
By: Judy Christie, and others
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Eleanor
- By: David Michaelis
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 19 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 620
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 524
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 518
In the first single-volume cradle-to-grave portrait in six decades, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis delivers a stunning account of Eleanor Roosevelt’s remarkable life of transformation. An orphaned niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, she converted her Gilded Age childhood of denial and secrecy into an irreconcilable marriage with her ambitious fifth cousin Franklin. Franklin Roosevelt transformed Eleanor from a settlement house volunteer on New York’s Lower East Side into a matching partner in New York’s most important power couple in a generation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Stands apart from other biographies of ER
- By Debra Malone on 11-20-20
By: David Michaelis
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Lady Bird
- A Biography of Mrs. Johnson
- By: Jan Jarboe Russell
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
A revealing biography of Lady Bird Johnson with startling new insights into her marriage to Lyndon Baines Johnson and her unexpectedly strong impact on his presidency. Long obscured by her husband's shadow, Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson emerges in this first comprehensive biography as a figure of surprising influence and the centering force for LBJ, a man who suffered from extreme mood swings and desperately needed someone to help control his darker impulses.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Do not waste an audible credit
- By Sandra B. on 10-15-23
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America's Queen
- The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- By: Sarah Bradford
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Using remarkable new sources, Sarah Bradford has written a timely celebration of a life that was more private than commonly supposed. Revealing new testimony from many of the couple's friends shows the complexities of this apparently very public relationship and of her controversial marriage to Aristotle Onassis. Here is the private Jackie - neglected wife, vigilant mother, and working widow - whose contradictory and fascinating nature is illuminated by all that Bradford has discovered.
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4 out of 5 stars
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American Royalty
- By Kindle Customer on 06-10-16
By: Sarah Bradford
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Reclamation
- Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant's Search for Her Family's Lasting Legacy
- By: Gayle Jessup White
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 23
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
A Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings’ family explores America’s racial reckoning through the prism of her ancestors - both the enslaver and the enslaved.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Slow start, eventually a worthwhile story
- By ChocolateDweller on 12-17-21
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The Inheritance
- A Novel
- By: JoAnn Ross
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 181
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 158
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Story4 out of 5 stars 158
When conflict photographer Jackson Swann dies, he leaves behind a conflict of his own making when his three daughters, each born to a different mother, discover that they’re now responsible for the family’s Oregon vineyard - and for a family they didn’t ask for.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great story a few little quirks
- By Dawn Starostka on 09-15-21
By: JoAnn Ross
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Becoming Duchess Goldblatt
- By: anonymous
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Lyle Lovett, J. Smith-Cameron
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 350
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 305
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 305
Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is two stories: that of the reclusive real-life writer who created a fictional character out of loneliness and thin air, and that of the magical Duchess Goldblatt herself, a bright light in the darkness of social media. Fans around the world are drawn to Her Grace's voice, her wit, her life-affirming love for all humanity, and the fun and friendship of the community that's sprung up around her.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Oh Dear Duchess!
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 07-20-20
By: anonymous
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My Grandfather's Son
- A Memoir
- By: Clarence Thomas
- Narrated by: Clarence Thomas
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 740
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 664
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Story5 out of 5 stars 665
Provocative, inspiring, and unflinchingly honest, My Grandfather's Son is the story of one of America's most remarkable and controversial leaders, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told in his own words.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-17-21
By: Clarence Thomas
What listeners say about Grace & Steel
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kay C. Wharton
- 03-13-21
Great Listen!
It is a great book. Very interesting and I love the narrator of the book as well. Highly recommend it !
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- PHYLLIS
- 09-01-24
Bush generations
The narrator had a very soothing voice, which made it easy to listen to such a long story. I've previously read other Bush memoirs, but this one went back further to introduce other women and how and what they contributed to the Bush saga. Hated to have it end!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Janis c
- 03-20-21
such an enjoyable listen.. love the Bush family.
I still love George W. his antics still make me smile.. Such a great story
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Virginia Lang
- 07-16-21
Loved it!
Women that were imperfect yet instrumental. Both in the family and in politics. The book gave a true sense of what it was like living the complicated lives each Bush woman faced.
The narration was enjoyable.
I would recommend it!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 05-12-23
A window into history
Interesting and informative. An unabridged window into history. It showed the human side of this famous family.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- margebibby
- 08-03-21
Exceptional yet unfortunately politically negative
Very well rounded regarding the Bush legacy. Unfortunately the author's extremely negative political views regarding Trump interfere with this otherwise good history.
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1 person found this helpful