The secret literary life of George W. Bush
By Marjorie Kehe | 12.30.08
It is perhaps something they should have told us sooner: George W. Bush is a voracious reader. “In the 35 years I’ve known George W. Bush, he’s always had a book nearby,” writes Karl Rove in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal.
“[Bush] plays up being a good ol’ boy from Midland, Texas, but he was a history major at Yale and graduated from Harvard Business School. You don’t make it through either unless you are a reader,” Rove insists.
“There is a myth perpetuated by Bush critics that he would rather burn a book than read one. Like so many caricatures of the past eight years, this one is not only wrong, but also the opposite of the truth and evidence that bitterness can devour a small-minded critic. Mr. Bush loves books, learns from them, and is intellectually engaged by them. ”
Apparently Rove and Bush had a reading contest going since early 2006. Although in the end, Rove read more titles than did the president, Rove says that Bush has devoured hundreds of books (including reading the Bible all the way through each year.)
Some of the titles that Rove says Bush read during the period of their contest include the following: “The nonfiction ran from biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, King Leopold, William Jennings Bryan, Huey Long, LBJ and Genghis Khan to Andrew Roberts’s ‘A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900,’ James L. Swanson’s ‘Manhunt,’ and Nathaniel Philbrick’s ‘Mayflower’ Besides eight Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald, Mr. Bush tackled Michael Crichton’s ‘Next,’ Vince Flynn’s ‘Executive Power,’ Stephen Hunter’s ‘Point of Impact,’ and Albert Camus’s ‘The Stranger,’ among others.”
It’s an impressive list. I get paid to read and consequently go through many titles a year but I’m still impressed.
However, the revelation of this surprising bent for reading is not earning the president much good press.
“The books themselves reveal — actually, confirm — something about Bush that maybe Rove did not intend,” writes Richard Cohen in the San Jose Mercury News. “They are not the reading of a widely read man, but instead the books of a man who seeks — and sees – vindication in every page. Bush has always been the captive of fixed ideas. His books just support that.”
In the Atlantic Monthly: “I did that same contest at the local library – when I was six. Anyone who actually reads books knows that reading the words off the page is half the job, at best. The hard part is digesting the book, getting to its essential themes and then weighing them against your own body of knowledge…. Only a rookie would set that sort of goal – and then brag about it. Either that or, you know, someone who doesn’t really read.”
There are also those who have questioned the numbers and doubted the veracity of Rove’s report.
I’m not among them. I have never bought into the anti-intellectual image Bush has cultivated for himself and I have no reason to doubt that he read and enjoyed all of the above titles.
But what does resonate for me is this comment on the reader blog of seattlepi.com: “If Bush and Rove truly wanted to share their passion for reading and love of books they could have been a lot more vocal about it. Think of the online book social network and community building possibilities? Think of all that potential and needed revenue for authors and publishers that could have been had if they would have shared their reading lists with the public.”
I’m not so interested in the thought of lost publishing revenues as I am in the status of reading in this country. If the president values books and the pursuit of knowledge in them, that would have been a good thing for young readers to know. Actually, it would have been a good thing for students of all ages to know.
It would have been a good thing for the country to know. And it could only have helped Bush’s image.
So I have no problem with Rove’s announcement that Bush is a reader. I just wish we had known sooner.
Comments
3. Shalom Freedman | 12.30.08
The vicious and stupid personal attacks on President Bush now extend to blaming him for his reading list. Richard Cohen claims that President Bush reads for ‘vindication’ of his own views, but in that list of titles there is much which is certainly outside the political philosophy of President Bush.
I did not know for instance that Albert Camus was a right- wing groupie of the Republican Party.
4. chris | 12.30.08
Strange - one would think that since Bush is such a reader he would have developed a more articulate speaking manner, and one with a greater grasp of vocabulary. I think they (Rove, et al) are a bunch of phonies who use books as props, which would fit right in with their fictional view of the world.
5. Ray Salemi | 12.30.08
When I read Rove’s piece, I simply dismissed it as part of the coordinated Bush Legacy process. I did not believe Rove, because Bush did not act like a person who loved books. But, I think that your comment is even more devastating. What a lost opportunity for leadership!
I suspect that Bush would not have had a “President’s Reading List,” because of the belief that the American people did not want to vote for someone smarter than them. Sarah Palin’s candidacy was the last gasp of this view.
I hope that President-Elect Obama will implement your plan. I would love to know what the President is reading, and it would certainly influence my reading habits.
6. Greg | 12.30.08
I would not expect the President of the USA to be telling everyone in the Free World what books he has just read. Many of the books would appear (to me) to be intellectual entertainment for the President and not a log to be posted on a website describing how many or how often the President read a book.
Free country, you may think so, I do not, but then… I have given 30 years to making sure you have that right to say and do as you choose… or read a book of your choosing.
7. Dennis Johnson | 12.30.08
If Bush somehow walked on water there would be those who would diminish the act.
8. Dan | 12.30.08
The negative comments about the President’s reading habits reveal that acute Bush Derangement Syndrome remains a severe affliction among the self-appointed elite. Had he or others previously attempted to reveal or capitalize on this, even for the best motives, entertainment and media critics would have defused any positive effects.
Just for the record: The time will come, maybe many years from now, when George Bush will be treated much better by history than his present detractors will recognize. They however will fade to a faint wisp.
9. Bryce Godot | 12.30.08
Odd that a history major, who is also a voracious reader, did not realize that managing the centuries-long antipathy between Shia and Sunni needed to be factored into his post-invasion strategy.
10. Bill Sargent | 12.30.08
” If Bush somehow walked on water…”? You must be joking. If you expect anything supernatural from this man, imagine him excaping prosecution for the criminal exicution of his duties as Commander in Chief. And as the previous comment said…from the mouth of Karl Rove! Some people will NEVER get it.
11. Hyst | 12.30.08
i love how all of you right wing conservatives will support that dictator to the last day of his official reign, even though hes been caught more than once pretending to read with the book upside down. if our newly-found intellectual chief of staff is reading anything, i guarantee hes skipping the pages to look for the pictures.
12. Michelle | 12.30.08
Bush may have surrounded himself with great books, but the real shame of his presidency is that he failed to surround himself with great men.
13. Lucy Baker | 12.30.08
Reading is a good skill. Being challenged and increasing your wisdom comes from both life’s experiences, other people, and books from authors of great insight. A president that values knowledge and wisdom is truely a leader to our young and to all of us. President Bush is not among those enlightened presidents. In this case, all is suspect when told by Karl Rove. In this case, given President Bush’s own anti-truth and anti-science policies, all is suspect. Bush’s words and policies are not consistent with such spin and myth-making.
14. matthew | 12.30.08
Kudos to Dennis above for setting it all in perspective.
The Atlantic monthly column is intriguing in it’s self-discrediting self-righteousness.
Bush hasn’t bragged about his reading. I may be projecting my own enjoyment of books and what I found in them upon him, but perhaps, the leader of the free world is seeking some privacy, some life apart from the screaming masses asking for favors and consideration from him or at least bashing him?
Bush likely turns to books to broaden his horizon beyond the small walls of the Oval Office and the constraints of his burden as President.
Rove certainly isn’t bragging about his book appetite either. Bragging would be telling the press or some news hound the details of the books as you read them with the obvious intent of self-aggrandizement, rather than this late in the term, revelation with the apparent purpose of making people aware of one part of the relationship between the president and his men.
15. John Broderick | 12.30.08
Whoa there!! Some titles are being overlooked from the White House Library.
Don’t foreget
- Curious George finds a Quagmire.
- Fun with **** and Chenney’s energy policy
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabugraabe
- Where’s Waldo with the Bill of Rights?
- Harold and the Purple finger
16. Jo | 12.30.08
Considering that part of the Republican tactic was to paint Obama as an “Elitist” for sounding like an articulate and educated man, exposing Bush and Rove as having intellectual pursuits would undermine Bush’s well-cultivated “average guy” image.
So yes, the criticism is deserved. I can not help but be reminded of Bush’s speaking engagement at his former Alma Mater when he made the remark “For those of you who are C students, you too can be president of the United States.
At every turn, from Joe the plumber to Palin’s inability to discuss what she reads and her stunning ignorance of major Supreme court cases the Republicans have disparaged education. With the charges of “Elitism” the Republican party has tried to position themselves as being the party of the average person, by assuming the average person could not possibly be interested in having a leader who is well educated and well read.
19. Bruce Carlson | 12.30.08
Same people who denigrate Bush’s reading denigrate Oprah’s choice of Books/Authors. I believe they would denigrate anything which didn’t fit in their narrow view of how things should be. They are not worh listening to or reading about. I suspect a great deal of it pertains to jealousy (and a smaller than average ……).
20. Rex Reddy | 12.30.08
Stephen Hawking talks funny too. Does that mean he is not well read?
Both are simply not endowed with the gift of the silver tongue.
A sharp contrast to Obama and Bubba.
How does one extract snake oil anyway?
I have always been curious.
21. Paul | 12.30.08
Why isn’t he reading books about economics, alternative fuels, the history of the Middle East, cultural and historical trends, etc.?
22. David Silvers | 12.30.08
Given Karl Rove’s history of disinformation and worse, we should not take his statements as true, but should consider the strong likelihood that this is part of an orchestrated rehabilitation process of Bush’s image, which Bush himself and others are now aggressively pursing.
The sheer number of books - combined with the hours that Bush spent dirt-biking and otherwise working out - leads one to seriously question the truth of what is being asserted.
If Bush really read these books, let’s do what our English teachers used to do - have a “pop” quiz with questions prepared by academics who have actually read these books.
23. Joe | 12.30.08
“Bush may have surrounded himself with great books, but the real shame of his presidency is that he failed to surround himself with great men.”
Of course our esteemed President Elect has surrounded himself with nothing but the most outstanding citizens until they become a political liability.
25. Tom | 12.30.08
Shalom,
Vicious and personal attacks on George Bush? Please. To really see vicious attacks, you should read something (anything) by Ann Coulter. To really see personal attacks, I refer you to the Republican Party and virtually everything they said about Barack Obama in between November 2007 and November 2008.
This isn’t an attack on George Bush’s reading list. We don’t really know what George Bush read. Karl Rove is a spinmeister. He says things to achieve specific goals. If the truth will help achieve his current goals, he might tell the truth. If lies are necessary to achieve his current goals, he will tell lies. The truth is incidental. So we really don’t know WHAT if anything George Bush read in the last eight years. Hopefully at least his daily intelligence briefing.
This is all about history’s view of George Bush. George, ****, Karl and Laura are all trying to convince us that George W Bush is a good guy and the Bush 43 presidency has been good for America. Despite evidence to the contrary. Skepticism *IS NOT* surprising. If you think this just amounts to vicious and personal attacks, you might be interested in some beachfront Galveston real estate I have for sale…..
26. Umberto Pynchon | 12.30.08
If President Bush had *written* Foucault’s Pendulum or Gravity’s Rainbow the aintellectual left would still call him stupid.
It is the only argument they have, period. Talk to them about any subject - if they don’t like something, then it’s stupid - their prejudice serves itself well!
They gladly suffer parochialism that would embarrass a *******.
27. Jim Kalember | 12.30.08
From Karl Rove? We’re using him as a source? Say what you will about intellectual or anti-intellectual, the fact remains that with No Child Left Behind, we are creating a nation of test takers, not thinkers. The “I read more books than you” mentality fits nicely with the NCLB attempt to destroy public education. I teach literacy to underprivileged middle school kids, and it is clear to me that the GOP were attempting to create their “permanent majority” by dumbing down the public schools to create a nation of voters who would respond to their messages of fear and “family values”. Ms. Kehe is spot on that they should have used their powerful messaging machine to inspire our youth to read. It is time to reform our schools, help kids love reading, create a 2 year HS diploma, and make education relevant to kids lives. Arne Duncan has a big job!
28. Maggie2 | 12.30.08
C-Span did an interview with President Bush, and the man came across as both articulate and down to earth–a simple man (not stupid),someone who said he insisted on vigorous exercise and enjoyed reading to relieve the stress of the job. I can relate to both, and I think his image–who he is or what he’s like has been crafted carefully by political image makers and spin doctors to make him acceptable to the “American people” whoever they are purported to be. In fact, the president’s job as defined by the Constitution is to defend it and the country. The president is not supposed to be the country’s guru, savior, big daddy and super leader of the world. We should be careful not to expect too much from the next administration, but to see that the Congress legislates appropriately, and, if possible, retrieves the constitutional power it ceded to the Executive. It’s more important for the country to follow the directives of the Constitution than to fuss about what books the president reads.
29. murr | 12.30.08
I just want to point out that there is absolutely no reason to believe anything Rove says about the presidency. He so easily weaves fiction with twisted fact that he has no voice worth listening too. The price you pay for Rove’s approach to the truth is that sooner or later, every thing you say just becomes sound and fury signifying nothing.
30. just sayin’ | 12.30.08
Well, whether or not he published a list of books that he was reading, it seems strange that the husband of a librarian wouldn’t have emphasized his love of books and gave a few examples of some of his favorites through his lifetime. He could’ve told the students of America that he reads both for information/knowledge/curiosity and for entertainment. Or the First Lady could’ve made those assertions on his behalf. She could’ve emphasized her love of books, too. Or maybe she did? They did? Did they?
31. Chris | 12.30.08
Dear Miss/Mrs/Madam Kehe -
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Anyone, and I mean anyone, who swallows anything this propaganda-based, poison ‘destructo-istration’ states as fact is either willfully ignorant (to an absurd degree), or is simply helping to create the myth you now feed. Either way, it is the path of the fool. It is, by the way, this same extreme naive foolishness that got hundreds of millions murdered in the last century. It will likely continue and get worse under a newly fanged ‘destructo-istration.’
Those who play the fool out ignorance have only their lack of intellectual curiosity amd laziness to blame. Those who play the game under the illusion they will be on the winning (surviving) side just haven’t read enough history. Under the pharaohs, no one is safe, lest of their loyal servants.
When the awakening begins, it will likely be after the fact (of global genocide). History, by design, has a way of staying on its gruesome schedule. However, if people would wake up, the ancient gig would be over…
It is nice to dream, and even give people the benefit of the doubt, but please… Get real and wake up.
32. StevePros | 12.30.08
I believe Dan is correct in his assessment about history’s view of Bush. Future generations will be reminded that after the unprecedented attack of 9/11, Islamic extremists were held largely powerless on our shores–that another major crisis was averted . . .
Some will say that Bush abridged our civil liberties and used the Executive as a bludgeon at this time of national crisis. I ask today’s readers to remember that President Lincoln was accused of the very same things at the time of his national crisis, holding scores of Baltimore citizens in jail without their habeous corpus rights and employing the political truncheon of the Emancipation Proclamation to stave off recognition of the South by some of the Heads of Europe.
I, for one, wish President-elect Obama the very best in his early tenure. He will be tested in ways we cannot yet imagine. I hope for all of us that he is up to these tests. His cabinet choices leave one wondering, though. If you hate Karl Rove becuase of his “arrogance”, give Rahm Emmanuel about 6 weeks and see how you like him.
I wonder what’s on Rahm’s bookstand???
33. Adam | 12.30.08
Well no matter how stupid a person is…. you don’t become a president for nothing.
34. bill | 12.30.08
To “Without a doubt, Sadam has WMDs”, ‘Im a uniter, not a divider’, “I want a humble foreign policy”, ‘Heck of a job, Brownie’ and “We do not torture’, can be added “Mr. Bush loves books, learns from them, and is intellectually engaged by them.” The story’s source, The Wall Street Journal, is at it again: spreading manure, so Republican lies can spread further and grow faster.
35. Maris | 12.30.08
For those of you who have BDS and complain about NCLB, remeber NCLB was Ted Kennedy’s, the Liberal Lion’s, education policy.
As a former educator, I feel NCLB has both it’s good and bad points.
36. steven | 12.30.08
I’m rather shocked that the author of this piece takes Rove at his word. As another poster remarked, the sheer number of books read and the whole Bush-Rove reading competition smack of Rove’s worst hyperbolic spin mode. Once again, the media appears to be “punked” by claims made by or on behalf of this administration. That it happens here, on the CSM site, only makes me all the more disappointed.
As to Bush’s legacy, which happened to be discussed today on NPR, let’s stop with the counterfactuals about this administration keeping us safe. Specious logic, to be sure. The fact that nothing happened is not evidence that something was prevented. Bush’s legacy will be an incredibly expensive and unnecessary military engagement in Iraq, Katrina, an arrogant and imperious executive branch of government, and the recent financial meltdown.
37. ANDY | 12.30.08
Blame Bush for not reading and being some sort of dunce, then blame him for reading, for not reading slowly enought to digest it, for not sharing his reading list &c. These are the same people who have “Bush Derangement Syndrome” and blame him if it rains, snows, doesn’t do either; a tree falling in the forest, but the hippies weren’t there to mourn for it, and the martians taking over Omicron Percei-8. The man has made mistakes, and had great triumphs, but after the new messiah comes to power, who will they blame then?
38. Scooter Libby | 12.30.08
It is difficult to put a positive spin on the last 8 years, so I cannot fault Mr. Rove and company for falling short. I agree that well-read, intelligent individual (e.g. the average Ivy League history major) should possess a much better vocabulary, and, given Bush’s obvious self-confidence, be more adept at speaking extemporaneously.
Also, when comparing the Bush Administration’s record on civil rights to Roosevelt or Lincoln, it is worthwhile to note that Roosevelt and Lincoln curtailed civil rights only for the duration of the wars. When you declare war on an emotion - as in the ‘Global War on Terror’- when does the war end? Is the country currently facing the same grave and immediate existential threat it faced during the Civil War and World War II? I believe Ben Franklin said something once about people who trade freedom for security.
39. Kahleeka | 12.31.08
The disrespect by Dems and liberals for Bush! Are you some of the people on the documentary who could not name who controlled Congress? Or who said they could see Russia from their backyard? Do you know who Tony Rezco is? Use some critical thinking people! You don’t get to be President by being a dunce! The man is brilliant and it shames you for disparaging his reading list; you probably haven’t read a book in years!
40. Anlala | 12.31.08
Karl Rove’s own words say it best: “[Bush] plays up being a good ol’ boy from Midland, Texas…There is a myth perpetuated by Bush critics that he would rather burn a book than read one.”
Huh? Typical Rove…no wonder there is so much controversy swirling around Bush and the Republican party. They contradict themselves at every turn, causing mass confusion that they blame on the “liberal elite” media who for the most part are just trying to sort through it all so the voter can TRY to make sense of it.
41. Ron Scheurer | 12.31.08
Although Rove does not mention Superman or Captain Marvel comic books, both would have been good choices for Bush. He appears to believe, as do many of his followers, that he represents both figures as a savior to the world.
43. Annette | 12.31.08
We Americans seem to be a people who must always have some one person to blame for any and every challenge and problem and the buck always stops with the President. And of course, the President is rarely the only one or even rarely the one to be blamed. It’s amazing to me that even this collection of responses to a non-political type of article would still bring out partisan comments and attacks. Oh how I long for a country of citizens who show respect of their leaders regardless of political party!
Every President will makes mistakes. We should remember to at the very least give our leaders some measure of respect for their motive to serve this country.
And I didn’t vote for the current president (the first time around) nor did I vote for the new one. But I will show both of them respect and not take part in mindless criticism as so many of the responses to this article have done.
Every President is worthy of our appreciation!
44. Paddy Rao | 12.31.08
Something is not consistent here. Here is a telling quote from Mr. Bush:
“I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it’s easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?” –George W. Bush, asked if the tide was turning in Iraq, Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006
No voracious reader would ever come up with a quote like this.
In all likelihood, Rove is trying to build an “intellectual” image for a man who has no real intellect.
45. Jerry Doyle | 12.31.08
I guess what perplexes me about reading that president George W. Bush is a “voracious” reader is how one can read so much and learn so little from what he has read. I am not being cynical or facetious in my writing the above statement, but I am being very serious in saying that learning this new revelation about our president does seem perplexing to me.
46. Laura Brown | 12.31.08
I have a hard time believing this just because he doesn’t talk like a well read person. Most of the people I know who are well read talk at a much higher level than he does in formal settings (use better grammar and a larger vocabulary).
47. Jerome F. Miller | 12.31.08
When I saw the headline in the E-mail from C.C.M. I thought who would say that and I came up with Karl Rove. Then when I opened the site and saw that indeed Rove was the backgrounder. And then, from a article in the Wall Street Yournal sure a real news paper!!! Not so anymore. I for one KNOW that George Herbert Walker Bush II could not read the Constitution of The United States of America. Just look at the mess left for OBAMA,. More then I can list. The only thing I can say is May God have mercy on us and help OBAMA effect change to get us on the correct path.
48. Archie1954 | 01.01.09
Bush may be a voracious reader but comic books are now very hard to come by.
49. Dean Romprey | 01.01.09
The elitest’s of the left are jealous…they couldn’t even think of reading a chapter book. It is sad that looking at pictures (****) is all they can do and claim it is freedom of expression. They think that is being smart!
50. ButlerReport | 01.01.09
Painting my numbers and pop-ups books are not considered reading. Bush was and is an idiot. No amount of press ‘leaks’ to the contrary will change public perception of a fool.
51. Jonathan | 01.01.09
I think we all forget in this conversation that Bush married a librarian. I agree with the sentiment expressed in this piece that additional media attention on this contest between Bush and Rove would have done great things for the status of reading and libraries in this nation. Could the first lady not have added even more benefit to this with her own background as well? What a terrible lost opportunity.
52. Winston | 01.02.09
George W Bush an avid Reader,
Well this may well be true,In light of his commanded of the English grammar and His 2.7 GPA,That got him
Into Yale,now we are lead to believe he loves reading,This only underscores The perception That he
is an not that bright,and Those who say other wise,are members of the Right wing- (Immaculate perception)
group of conservatives.
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1. Cyoohoos | 12.30.08
Yes, from the mouth of Karl Rove. Now there’s a source worth quoting.