Rating: 
Summary: Not a condemnation of Bush, just an Expose'
Review: It is sad that the author was hounded (by the Bush's) to a point where he committed suicide in July, 2001, never seing his book published, 9/11, or today's political sniping. (The first printing was burned after the publisher was threatened and paid off.)
This book neither attacks nor praises President Bush. Instead, it is a biography of the events that led Bush to the Oval Office. If you believe only a fraction of the (heavily documented) information contained in these pages, you will wonder what the American public was thinking when he became President.
Easy reading, but you won't want to put it down.
An excellent choice (to go with this book) might be "Blinded by the Right" or "The Republican Noise Machine", both by David Brock.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting biography - not just for the few sensationals
Review: When this book was first released on its second printing after the now quite famous burning of the first addition, I purchased and read it. Now, several years later, it is still an interesting read - but not necessarily for the most sensational claims. Where I think Hatfield did the best portrayal from his perspective, was the long and looming TREND that G.W. Bush was led into. From very early on in the book, Hatfield makes a basic claim that indeed Bush was a fortunate Son which virtually secures his future even through numerous failures.
What got this book in such hot water was of course the Author's status as an ex-con, and the cocaine allegation. I do not wish to detract from either of those, but as a reader, I was never really that interested in either of these. The author's history is his own business, surely we all know some ex-cons. As for Bush's coke thing, well that was back in the day so I don't really care about that.
What I did care about was the long line of instances where Bush continued, over and over, to receive immense preferential treatment in every aspect of his life. This puts Bush in an interesting light for a biography. It also can explain quite a deal about the man who became President of the United States.
For readers considering this book, I urge you to read it as a whole book, not just several hundred pages revolving around one claim. As I said above, I found this book to still be an intriguing read well after Bush assumed office.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bash, but rather, an investigation
Review: The problem with writing a biography of George W. Bush is that it won't be nice. The details of his life leave no choice.Fortunate Son puts all this on display. It shows a man who says the right things while doing whatever benefits him. The list of contradictions is as plain as day. Here are a few. In April of 1999 George blamed the film industry for desensitizing people to violence. Between 1983 and 1993 he was a paid director for Silver Screen Management. They arrange for investment in films. Twenty-one of the films they arranged financing for were R-rated. That was due to the violence they depicted. Arlington politico's passed legislation that allowed the Arlington Sports Facility Development Authority to seize land. It was turned over to the Rangers for development. As a minority owner of the team George was close to these people. As Governor he later pulled the teeth from those laws. His run for Governor was based on a platform of issues he misrepresented. His working existence is a series of shady business deals. His morality is rife with hypocrisy. The book is filled with examples of this. Hatfield's research begs for more questions to be asked too. In 1978 George ran for the Congressional riding of Midland, Texas. It came out that 61% of his financial backing came from outside that riding. Most of it was from big business interests. Why? At that point George had nothing behind him (apart from the family name) to warrant that support. It was there though. The records prove it. It was revelations like this that got J. H. Hatfield in trouble with the upper echelon of the Republican Party (to say nothing of their supporters). He hadn't started out with intentions of discrediting Bush. If anything it was the opposite; his sympathetic writing style makes that clear. The book is well written. The information is concise. Hatfield doesn't condemn. He just reports the facts. He had avoided what he couldn't prove. His coverage of the (possible) fiasco during the Air Guard tenure had been sparse. There's no mention of the ties between the Bush and Hinckley families either. Hatfield would have found those. He left them alone though. It was only after attacks on his credibility that he did some more research. Then he found the details of the cocaine bust. It's hard to say how much more he'd have found had he lived. It's even harder to guess how much he would have proven. There seems to be plenty there. Still, what he found was more than enough. It produced a very important book. Everyone should read it.
Rating:
Summary: Well researched and revealing
Review: This book should be required reading for those who think Bush can relate to us common people. It's an amazing accumulation of information that illustrates what a monster we have in the Whitehouse. I'd give this one ten stars if that was possible.
Rating:
Summary: Wheel of fortune
Review: Expecting a full blast attack on Bush this biography turned out to be almost low key compared with the second generation of exposes now on the bestseller lists, and perhaps triggered the genre. Kevin Phillips' American Dynasty rather lands a forward pass from somewhere here. Proceeding from grandfather to father to 'Junior' every stage seems to leave behind a problem zone, mess, or blot on the record. The book is effective in simply telling the story without hysteria as the details mount up to a portrait that is unsettling, almost unnerving, with its question in the background--how did the system work to put his man in power? Even with its broad hints the book merely indicates the surface rustling in the bushes we don't see. After prolonged mental strain, I was reduced to hazarding a guess--Texas oil money? This guy is your employee, check his resume.
Rating:
Summary: How On Earth Did This Man Become President?
Review: I just finished this book. I don't write too many reviews on amazon dot com because they tend to get dismissed by people of opposing view points. However with this book, all that it contains are facts. Honestly, it's more of a complete biography if you will, containing every act that W. did during his rise to the white house. Starting with a little info on his father to get a mark on what his atmosphere growing up was, it lists the good and the bad things he has done over the years. Inside stock trading, flip flopping stances on various issues, covering for his friends along with his fathers friends, are what await you in this book. This book has little to no speculation, (and those comments are posted as footnotes, not in the main text) so the reviews that are saying there are no facts to this book are wrong. I urge you to read this book before you vote in the coming November.
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