Grace & steel Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the women of the Bush dynasty

Biographer Taraborrelli (The Kennedy Heirs) delivers a detailed and largely flattering group portrait of the Bush family matriarchs. Dorothy Wear Walker Bush (1901--1922), the wife of senator Prescott Bush and mother of George H.W. Bush, became famous in her own right as a syndicated newspaper columnist. According to Taraborelli, George H.W. Bush's political success can be credited in large part to the unwavering support of his wife, Barbara Bush (née Pierce; 1925--2018), who suffered from lifelong depression, the loss of a child to leukemia at age three, and insecurities about her appearance, yet became one of the most beloved first ladies thanks to her literacy initiatives and "grandmotherly quality." Though Barbara wasn't the easiest mother-in-law to warm up to, according to Taraborelli, she helped her daughter-in-law, Laura Bush (née Welch), wife of George W. Bush, to find her footing as first lady and become an active advisor in her husband's presidency. Taraborrelli's breathless prose ("Barbara was nothing if not a real patriot; some might even call her an American icon") occasionally mars his deep research and fluid pacing. Still, this is a unique and colorful look at one of America's most powerful political families. (Mar.)

A glossy dissection of the women members of a family that has loomed large over decades of U.S politics. Taraborrelli, the author of glitzy celebrity bios of the Kennedys, the Hiltons, Marilyn Monroe, and Beyoncé, has his work cut out for him in finding intrigue in the Bush story--this isn't Camelot territory--but he digs deep and locates plenty of interesting details. Early on, the author explores the psychic consequences of Barbara Bush's growing up under the oversight of a clinically depressed, critical mother. He shows a particular fondness for the older George's wealthy, spirited mother, Dorothy, or Dotty, "the most misunderstood of the Bush women" and "a feminist before the word was coined." The author is ambivalent about the "more conventional" Barbara: He admires her ability to recover from a depression, triggered in part by the loss of a child, that lasted for decades but annoyed by her apparent willingness to tolerate her husband's alleged decadeslong affair with another woman. Taraborrelli has a soft spot for Laura Bush, whose life was shaped by a tough childhood in rural Texas and a tragic incident during her teen years, when the car she was driving caused the death of a classmate. While the focus of the book is on these three women, the author also branches out to other women more tangentially connected to power and, inevitably, the political lives of the men they married. As in previous books, Taraborrelli doesn't shy from clichés--e.g., "verdant lawn" and "strong as an ox" appear on a single page. Writing in dozens of brief, punchy chapters and making good use of ample research, including many interviews with those who worked in the households of the various branches of the family, the author assembles a colorful mosaic of lives that didn't always fit comfortably together. Taraborrelli gives the Bushes the royal treatment. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.