- Hardcover: 348 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First edition (19 Jan 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743255453
- ISBN-13: 978-0743255455
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
697,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13 in Books > Biography > Political > United States > Bush, George
- #54 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Countries & Regions > United States > Congress & Government > White House
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The George W Bush White House, as described by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill in The Price of Loyalty, is a world out of kilter. Policy decisions are determined not by careful weighing of an issue's complexities; rather, they're dictated by a cabal of ideologues and political advisors operating outside the view of top cabinet officials. The President is not a fully engaged administrator but an enigma who is, at best, guarded and poker-faced but at worst, uncurious, unintelligent and a puppet of larger forces. O'Neill provided extensive documentation to journalist and author Suskind, including schedules with 7,630 entries and a set of 19,000 documents that featured memoranda to the President, thank-you notes, meeting minutes and voluminous reports. The result, The Price of Loyalty, is a gripping look inside the meeting rooms, the in-boxes and the minds of a famously guarded administration. Much of the book, as one might expect from the story of a Treasury Secretary, revolves around economics, but even those not normally enthused by tax-code intricacies will be fascinated by the rapid-fire intellects of O'Neill and Fed chairman Alan Greenspan as they gather for regular power breakfasts. A good deal of the book is about the things that O'Neill never figures out. He knows there's something creepy going on with the administration's power structure, but he's never inside enough to know quite what it is. But while those sections are intriguing, other passages are simply revelatory: O'Neill asserts that Saddam Hussein was targeted for removal not in the 9/11 aftermath but soon after Bush took office. Paul O'Neill makes for an interesting protagonist. A vaunted economist from the days of Nixon and Ford, he returns to a Washington that's immeasurably more cut-throat. And while he appears almost naïvely academic initially, he emerges as someone determined to speak his mind even when it becomes apparent that such an approach spells his political doom. --John Moe, Amazon.com
The Times
'Blasts through the wall of silence surrounding the White House'
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
PAUL O'NEILL LOOKED UP from his legal pad and out the window of USAir Flight 991 from Pittsburgh as it made a panoramic descent into Washington's Reagan National Airport. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
PAUL O'NEILL LOOKED UP from his legal pad and out the window of USAir Flight 991 from Pittsburgh as it made a panoramic descent into Washington's Reagan National Airport. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book tells the story of Paul O'Neill and his two years as Treasury Secretary for the Bush II administration (he got fired). If you expect a turgid expose of hanky-panky in the White House, this isn't it. Rather, the truly astonishing story of a "What, me worry?" President unfolds in a calm, measured manner, which makes it even more disturbing.
It paints the picture of a President completely detached from substantive policy discussions: sitting passively through high-level meetings, hardly uttering a word except for repeating the mantra of "tax cuts, tax cuts".
The hero of the book is Alan Greenspan, a long-time close personal and professional friend of O'Neill's. Recounted are countless meetings between the two during which they "conspired" - in vain - to preserve fiscal sanity in the federal government. The villain is clearly Dick Cheney, quietly sequestered in some "undisclosed location", pulling the strings that start wars, squash environmental legislation and produce (you guessed it) more tax cuts.
Now, if you look at who is who in this extremely current book, you may wonder what the heck is going on here...
Consider:
- Ron Suskind is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist for the Wall Street Journal (hardly the source of anti-Republican diatribes).
- Paul O'Neill is a life-long Republican: though bitter for getting fired, it must take enormous conviction to produce such a negative tale of a sitting President.
- Alan Greenspan, so frequently and carefully quoted in this book, has denied nothing, has not even attempted to soften the hard edges.
So what gives? My guess is that this is a purposeful public condemnation of Bush II and his Neo-Conservative entourage by traditional Republicans like Brent Scowcroft (and maybe even Bush I ?) who are fed up by the goings-on in Washington.
Needless to say, the book is very well-written and a true page turner. After all, how often do you get to read history as it is made, not many years later?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A really interesting account of 2 years in the George W cabinet. One can easily visualise how it must be extremely difficult to work with a maverick like Paul O'Neil, but it makes me wonder how W and Cheney ever decided to choose him for the post in the first place.
Many of the revelations on the working of the White House are spine-chilling. I won't spoil it by commenting on them. Just go ahead and read the book.
I only wish I could have come out of it with a higher opinion of GB than I started. Brace yourselves. Let's hope Kerry wins and is different/better for all our sakes.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Amazon editorial review does a very good job explaining the book, although I would like to add that the book has an excellent "Good read to substance" ratio. That is to say, the reader comes out at the end feeling very satified with having learned a whole lot more about something which is complex and very important, yet with minimal effort. This is due to Suskind's lean and concise writing which has obviously benifitted from the very best editing and organizational assistance; and of course information that comes from, what convincingly appears to be, the amazingly clear mind of Paul O'Neal. This is one of those few "proud to be on the shelf" books one really should own for posterity, yet once again has almost not a single bit of grind: and is on economic policy makers no less. This is because when reading the book, one feels almost physically present in and around Washington, in the loftiest of working environments. Having grown up in Washington, with a father who worked in a bank diagonally across the street from the Treasury, I found the book fascinating. Overall, it is an amazing "clarification", if it is true. I believe it must largely be. That is for you to decide, however.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unputdownable essential - a superb contemporaneous account
This is an excellent study of how a good man, unafraid to speak truth to power, was less-than-quietly eased out of his position because his views didn't fit with those of the Bush... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2005 by Dr. V. Stewart
fascinating
This is a very revealing book about Bush's administration and I agree with other reviews especially Mr. Phillips from Tennessee. Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2004 by conjunction
Mind Blowing stuff
There is little more that I can add to that which has been said by the other reviewers.
This is a brilliant book. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2004
This stuff is scary.
Paul O'Neill came to the Bush White House with very impressive credentials. He had worked for several previous Republican Presidents and had been a successful CEO of a major... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2004 by Dennis Phillips
Fascinating, scarey, essential reading
Some of this book is pretty dry stuff about the American economy, but you can skip that. The rest is a mesmerising and depressing account of how the clever and expert Paul O'Neill... Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2004 by Alice Lane
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