Karen Hughes (1) (1956–)

Cranked out by a ghostwriter to help in Bush's 2000 election campaign, this book is a study in politics. Bush appears to float detached through his own story, barely touching the ground to suffer or celebrate the various twists and turns of his own life. This book has the feel of a slickly packaged political tract, and nothing else. I only read it to determine if the odd things I was hearing said were in it actually were present; they weren't. Totally irrelevant, even if you want to understand the mind of the man it purports to eluciate; you won't get that here. Bush is carefully hidden behind a facade determined to paint him as just flawed enough to be human, but without getting him really muddy; in so doing, he's been essentially airbrushed out of his own life. A big ho-hum.… (meer)

Karen Hughes, close confidant and advisor to George W. Bush, writes what may be the warmest memoir touching on the Bush Administration (except for the anticipated memoirs of Laura Bush). During her appointments as part of the Bush team, first in Texas, through the 2000 campaign, and the first 18 months of the administration, Hughes was the handpicked leader overseeing communications. During those years, she became a feisty on-the-record defender of her boss.

Her book is filled with the same intrepid spirit, partially telling her life story, but mostly telling of her extended professional, and personal, relationship with Bush 43 and other close advisors (especially Karl Rove and Condaleeza Rice). She tells of the sacrifices that she made as a working mother, and in the end, the hyperactive career she ultimately stepped away from to spend more time with her family.

If the book is not quite as revealing as George Stephanopoulos' first-rate political memoir All Too Human, it is a valuable glimpse into the challenges and opportunities of strong women in the Washington fishbowl. And it is a full-throated defense -- in the guise of a love story -- of George W. Bush, who comes across as strong, decisive, smart, funny, warm, and loyal through these pages.

More personal than Bob Woodward's inside the White House books, and more winning than books by seeming turncoats like Scott McClellan, the book is certainly an enjoyable and eye-opening read. Is it to be fully believed? I'm not sure, given the rose-colored portrait of Bush; on the other hand, Hughes gives no other reason to not believe her.… (meer)