Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-56% $14.90$14.90
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Silver Arrow Bookstore
$7.42$7.42
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Martistore
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
41: A Portrait of My Father Paperback – Large Print, November 11, 2014
Purchase options and add-ons
Forty-three men have served as President of the United States. Countless books have been written about them. But never before has a President told the story of his father, another President, through his own eyes and in his own words. A unique and intimate biography, the book covers the entire scope of the elder President Bush’s life and career, including his service in the Pacific during World War II, his pioneering work in the Texas oil business, and his political rise as a Congressman, U.S. Representative to China and the United Nations, CIA Director, Vice President, and President. The book shines new light on both the accomplished statesman and the warm, decent man known best by his family. In addition, George W. Bush discusses his father’s influence on him throughout his own life, from his childhood in West Texas to his early campaign trips with his father, and from his decision to go into politics to his own two-term Presidency.
- Print length464 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 11, 2014
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.05 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100804194718
- ISBN-13978-0804194716
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Diversified Publishing; Large type / Large print edition (November 11, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 464 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0804194718
- ISBN-13 : 978-0804194716
- Item Weight : 15.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.05 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #643,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #808 in United States Executive Government
- #1,436 in US Presidents
- #3,238 in Political Leader Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
George W. Bush served as the forty-third President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. He had previously served as Governor of Texas. He and his wife, Laura, live in Dallas, where they founded the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University. President Bush is the author of three #1 bestsellers: Decision Points, his presidential memoir; 41, a biography of his father, President George H. W. Bush; and Portraits of Courage, a collection of oil paintings and stories honoring the sacrifice of America’s military veterans.
Photo credit © Paul Morse
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Bush suffered losses. He lost several elections. He lost fellow warriors when he served in World War II. He and Mrs. Bush lost a young daughter, Robin. Shortly before she died, she told her father, "I love you more than tongue can tell." The malapropism survived. Apparently, malapropism is congenital in the Bush family.
George Bush is always self-effacing. Given his upbringing, it is difficult to determine if this is how he was nurtured or his true nature. He is not given to lashing out at others in anger. Better to remain silent in the face of disaster or defeat, or be self-deprecating in an embarrassing situation. Bill Clinton defeated George Bush when he ran for a second Presidential term, yet they became friends. They traveled together and made television appearances and public service announcements to facilitate humanitarian efforts following natural disasters. And when Bush had that unfortunate reversal right in the lap of the Prime Minister of Japan, with cameras rolling, he made a joke at his own expense, then recombombulated himself. The world stopped and giggled at him, but he has true grit, and so does his wife.
George W. Bush is a decent artist and writes with casual elegance, a box of Kleenex near his right hand, and tongue firmly planted in his cheek. This is not an unbiased work. It is a biography written both from facts and from his heart. It is not an objective biography. This time, history is personal. Penned by the subject's eldest son, researched by family and friends, "41" is an intimate and loving history of a long life full of courage, suffering, wealth, success, and generosity.
Not to mention fishing with Vladimir Putin.
I like the Bush's, both George W. (the author) and George H. W. George W. wrote the book because a historian mentioned that only one other time was their a father/son combination in the White House - John and John Quincy Adams and it was ashame that the son John Quincy never wrote a book about his father and the influences on the son. George W. decided he wasn't going to let that happen with his father.
And, this beautifully written book is the result of that effort.
What comes through in the book, were the reasons why George H. W. Bush was such a great president, after all he resided over the fall of the Soviet Union without any fallout (nuclear that is) and ended the Cold War. His steady, unflinching understanding and support of Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time. It could have ended much differently, and history will recognize him for that.
Also, what comes through is the love and support that George H. W. Bush had for his family, including the daughter who died of leukemia at the age of three. The humorous anecdotes are especially worth the read, for anyone who likes the Bushes of course. One that I was reminded of occurred on 9/11/2001 when George W. Bush called his parents and found out they were in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He asked his mother why an his mother said: "George, you grounded our plane!"
The book is full of these humorous anecdotes and for this reason I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it for anyone who can put aside their biases.
Top reviews from other countries
Präsident George Walker Bush ist in der veröffentlichten Meinung zur Unperson niedergeschrieben worden. Ich habe sein Buch "DECISION POINTS" mit Begeisterung gelesen, um -SEINE- Version zu lesen. Da fragt man sich hinterher, wo und was denn wohl unsere schlauen Journalisten abgeschrieben haben.
Nun hat der gute Mann also eine Biographie über seinen Vater geschrieben. Klar, dass er dies aus der Perspektive des Sohnes unter Einbringung seiner eigenen Geschichte getan hat, wo sich Berührungspunkte ergeben. Das vervollständigt für den geneigten Leser das Bild des Autors. Aber eigentlich geht es ja um das Leben des Präsidenten George Herbert Walker Bush. Woher er kam, wie er sich hochgearbeitet hat und seine Präsidentschaft. Eine Karriere, die so wohl nicht mehr möglich wäre und welche uns Einblicke gewährt in eine andere Zeit. Viele Namen sind auch uns sicherlich noch geläufig und hier wird noch einmal nachgeliefert, worum es eigentlich ging.
Das macht dieses Buch so lesenswert. Die Wahl des Titels ist mutig, denn sie könnte auch missverstanden werden. Dies ist KEINE dämliche Lobhudelei und hier arbeitet sich auch niemand ab an seiner misslungenen Kindheit. Es ist einfach Ausdruck des Respekts für seinen Vater.
Lesen Sie das Buch und bilden Sie sich Ihre eigene Meinung. Meine Empfehlung. DANKE.
Author Bush cites, as the inspiration for the book, a conversation he had with the daughter of the outstanding historian David McCullough, famous for his epic biography of President John Adams, also the father of a subsequent president. McCullough notes, with regret, that President John Quincy Adams never wrote a biography of his father, and how history was poorer for it. Unlike the Adams family, Bush 43 has the added advantage of being able to do so while his father is still living. His enthusiasm for the task is very apparent.
It is an understatement to say that the elder Bush has lived an interesting life. Born to a prominent family, George H. W. Bush's life story is not that of someone who always took the easy path. He enlisted in the Navy the moment that he was of age to do so and became the youngest pilot in the US Navy at the time. He did not seek the safety his connections might have afforded him, and instead courageously participated in a number of combat missions, leading to an escape from death when his plane was shot down during a combat mission. He was an accomplished athlete and was captain of his baseball team in a college world series. He passed up on the opportunity to take advantage of family connections, instead plunging into the oil industry in an unfamiliar part of the county. Throughout his career he held a number of interesting jobs: congressman, Ambassador to China, Chairman of the RNC during Watergate, Director of the CIA, Vice-President and ultimately the big chair in the White House. During that time he had his share of triumph and defeat. His oldest son describes all of these events from the vantage of a close family member, giving the reader a perspective unavailable to most historians.
A recurring theme in the book is that of family. George H. W. Bush and his wife, the former Barbara Pierce, recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, the longest of any president and first lady. The couple also experienced the death of an infant daughter from leukemia. More so than most biographies, all of the subject's milestones are recounted within the context of the family, and doing so reveals much about the man's stellar character.
As a writer, George W. Bush has a very conversational style. He writes well and the book flows easily and is very readable. One criticism is that many times, the author drifts into writing about his own presidency, explaining some of the difficult decisions he had to make. This is understandable at times, given some similarities in the issues the two presidents confronted (e.g. war with Iraq, the hurricanes Ike and Katrina). The author also shies away from a number of controversies. For example, he says very little about how his own turbulent years of substance abuse affected his father. But he is bipartisan in his avoidance of these issues. Ironically, both Presidents Bush have developed a close friendship with President Bill Clinton, the man who prevented the 41st President from serving two full terms. The 43rd president also glosses over Clinton's indiscretions, despite the importance of the 1992 election in the life story of the book's subject. This is not a book about any sort of meanness. Bush takes the high road throughout.
Any prejudice that the reader may have against the book's author should be set aside in favor of a delightful reading experience. The story of a man with such a fascinating set of experiences, which include skydiving on his 75th, 80th, 85th and 90th birthday, and who has such a wonderful outlook on life, is too good to pass up on. That it is told by a close family member from a loving perspective makes it all the more interesting. George H. W. Bush's life is a wonderful example of how to age with dignity, grace and with a marvelous attitude and for that reason alone it is a pleasure to read.
His courageous decision in 1948 to move into the oil business meant moving to hot, dusty west Texas & away from the family's comfortable lifestyle on the east coast - this was then followed by him starting up Zapata Petroleum, which proved to be highly successful in the oil exploration business. With his affable personality & vast range of contacts, he then moved into politics (his own father had by then moved from investment banking to becoming a Senator), & helped move Texas towards becoming a state dominated by the Republicans.
As is well documented elsewhere, GB Snr then moved his way up the political ladder over the ensuing decades by holding a key series of jobs, such as becoming the US's Ambassador to the United Nations, then the first Head of the US Liaison Office in mainland China, followed by Director of the CIA, & finally Vice-President for 8 years.
Although he could be said to have been born with "a silver spoon in his mouth" through having wealthy, pro-active, well-connected parents, he certainly made the most of it, & undoubtedly arrived in the Oval Office as the best-ever prepared President-elect. This book is a really good insight into America's premier political family, & an excellent read.