American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush (Hardcover)

CIA director Bush Senior thwarted Carter's efforts to get the US hostages out of Iran, helping to get Reagan elected. After becoming vice-president in 1981, Bush arranged the arming of the mujehadin and Saddam. Bush illegally sold arms to Iran and used the funds to back the Contra terrorists. In August 1990, Thatcher encouraged Bush's attack on Iraq: "George, I was about to be defeated in England when the Falkland conflict happened. I stayed in office for eight years after that."

Leading the religious Right, Bush junior portrays America as a new Rome beset by barbarians, and Iraq as Babylon. These fundamentalists use the Bible to justify pre-emptive war (Esther 8:11); Jeremiah 50:8-20 promises that Israel will gain 'from the destruction of Babylon'.

The Bushes look after their own: the richest 1% has doubled their share of US income since 1980. The ratio of executive pay to factory workers' pay went from 42:1 to 419:1. The USA and Britain now have the least social mobility in the developed world.

Texas capitalists oppose immigration control because they want cheap labour. "In addition to laws inimical to unions, the proven solution for keeping costs down has been Mexican laborers - either illegal immigrants or temporary guest workers ... Their presence in the Texas labor market also applied downward pressure on other wages."

The Republican Party and the Labour Party have common policies: imperialism and warmongering, fraud and corruption, government support for religion (faith schools), a class hatred of trade unions, support for freedom of capital (which equals slavery for workers) and for offshore tax havens, a rhetoric of compassion and inclusiveness but a policy of secrecy, deceit and lies.

Capitalism in absolute decline generates this kind of politics: the EU and Russia are going the same way too.

The book has been well researched and will provide plenty of fodder in this election campaign. Phillips charts the numerous ties the Bush family has had with the military-industrial complex over the last 80 years, and its links to the various military intelligence services during this time, culminating in the CIA. This book raises a lot of doubt as to the supposed candor of father and son who, as Phillips has illustrated, have done a pretty good job of re-inventing themselves over the year.

Phillips explored the Religious Right in depth, calling into question the sincerity of Dubya's convictions. Phillips seems to view Dubya's re-christening in the church as a calculated move to bring him closer to the Texas electorate, which is probably the most religiously conservative state in the country. Billy Graham, who is credited with showing Dubya the light, has a long history in the Republican Party dating back to Eisenhower.

But, where this book suffers is in Phillips' attempt to make a case for a Bush Dynasty. While it is unprecedented to have a son follow so closely on the heels of his father into the White House (the Adamses were separated by 24 years, and a much changed American society), it hardly bespeaks a dynasty. But, Phillips continually presses this point, fearing that dynastic politics will be the ruin of our Republic.