Bushworld

Enter at Your Own Risk

By: Maureen Dowd

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

From Washington to Kennebunkport to Texas to old Europe and new Europe during the past two decades, Maureen Dowd has trained her binoculars on the Bush dynasty, putting them, as both 41 and 43 have complained to her, "on the couch". Here she wittily dissects the Oedipal loop-de-loop between father and son and the Orwellian logic of the rush to war in Iraq.

As she's written about Bushworld, "It's their reality. We just live and die in it."

Drawing upon her celebrated columns, with a new introductory essay, Dowd probes the topsy-turvy alternative universe of a group she has made recognizable by their first names, middle initials, nicknames, or numbers (41, the Boy Emperor, Rummy, Condi, Wolfie, Uncle Dick of the Underworld, General Karl, and her own nickname from W., the Cobra) as they seek an extreme makeover of the country and the world.

Bushworld is a book any reader who cares about the real world won't want to miss.

©2004 Maureen Dowd and 1992, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 The New York Times Company (P)2004 Penguin Audio and Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dowd's keen dramatizations of complex situations, uncannily biting caricatures and merciless re-spinning of spin set her far apart from the pack." (Publishers Weekly)

Excellent Wrtiting

Fantastic writing for which I would have given it a "5". But since we all lived through the election over the past year (at least) - nothing really new - which lowers the work. Bush had a major win and clearly too many people don't care about the business connections, Saudi alliances, etc. I enjoy Dowd's writing very much but after awhile the content "got old".

Good . . . But Long

I really enjoyed Bushworld . . . but it did go on and on and on and on . . . Sometime too many outrageous facts can boggle the mind!

Highly opinionated

Author takes a small amount of content and expands into a 13 hours and 4 min book.

About as unbiased as Michael Moore

I suspect a few of the reviews praising this work may have been seeded, so I felt compelled to speak up. To call this book journalism is ridiculous. If you hate the Bush(s), this book is more fuel for the fire. If you like the Bush family, you already know you won't like what the author has to say. However, if you're looking for an objective view of the White House administration and real world insights, this work isn't a credible source. It's entertainment, pure and simple. Ancedotes and witty commentary, disguised as "insight". The author should be ashamed to use her journalistic credentials to push a political agenda. I can get an opinion about the Bush administration just about anywhere. The truth is much harder to find.

Smart and Funny

Maureen Dowd's analysis of the current Bush administration draws on her experience as a journalist attached to Bush 41's administration, when she got a close-up view of the Bush family. Drawing on popular culture and her upfront and personal knowledge of global politics in the Bush context, Dowd views it all with a kaleidoscopic perspective and biting wit.

Fantastic, Erudite, Superb Research

Unlike some of the recent "election time" books (Unfit For Command springs to mind), this book is filled with careful research (what would you expect from Maureen Dowd of the NY Times of course) and tight prose. Very entertaining and very much to the point, this book presents a revealing look at one of the most influential families in this country. For those who claim some bias, they should fact check this book, which stands up to some serious scrutiny. If they don't like what they read, the blame lies squarely with the conduct of the Bushes, and not with the messanger. In addition to being well written, this book is also well narrated, as are so many of the books that make their way to audible.com.

Well Written

The writing in this book is very good, as I would expect it to be. However, I gave this one star because there was nothing lower than one. It's amazing that one person's bias and gossip could be taken as something representing the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Excellent observer.

Enjoy her Times columns. Nice to see them gathered together in this book. Well witten and well researched

Bushworld (unabridged)

This is a nice bit of creative writing, but in NO way believable or close to the truth. Everything in this book can be found to be a lie based on other books or in the news.