A CHARGE TO KEEP, by George W. Bush

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10 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Embarrassingly Elementary, January 28, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from Long Beach, CA  [THAT'S ME!!!!]

It's hard to imagine anyone other than the son of an ex-president, or perhaps a movie star, being paid to write a book so devoid of literary merit of any kind.

The self-absorption, the lack of appreciation for the wider community, the absence of serious personal reflection -- all of these failings run the depth and breadth of the book, unapologetically.

It's also difficult to imagine that a person with designs on the nation's highest office would have allowed such an embarrassingly juvenile and unexamined treatise to make it into the public consciousness willingly. One would imagine all efforts would have been mounted to prevent awareness of the book, and the political damage such a literary non-effort would cause.

This, however, presumes that the outcome of political contests is a matter of uncertainty -- and that an ill-considered book might have a negative impact -- a presumption being challenged by campaign finance issues and other recent events.

Ultimately, "A Charge to Keep" pales in comparison to other political autobiographies of the modern era. I fact, it does not belong in that company at all, but would be more suited to casual autobiographical sketches.