George W. Bush and the Redemptive Dream
A Psychological Portrait
-
- $34.99
-
- $34.99
Publisher Description
George W. Bush remains a highly controversial figure, a man for whom millions of Americans have very strong feelings. Dan McAdams' book offers an astute psychological portrait of Bush, one of the first biographies to appear since he left office as well as the first to draw systematically from personality science to analyze his life. McAdams, an international leader in personality psychology and the narrative study of lives, focuses on several key events in Bush's life, such as the death of his sister at age 7, his commitment to sobriety on his 40th birthday, and his reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, and his decision to invade Iraq. He sheds light on Bush's life goals, the story he constructed to make sense of his life, and the psychological dynamics that account for his behavior. Although there are many popular biographies of George W. Bush, McAdams' is the first true psychological analysis based on established theories and the latest research. Short and focused, written in an engaging style, this book offers a truly penetrating look at our forty-third president.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In exploring Bush's reasons for invading Iraq, narrative psychologist McAdams (The Person) taps behavioral science to probe the 43rd president's psyche, resulting in a fascinating, fun, and highly unusual profile. McAdams sees the answer in a "perfect psychological storm" of personality traits that came together at a particular moment in history. The first-born son of a privileged family, Bush is a "blazing extravert" who, after the death of his sister, comforted his grieving mother with humorous antics. Though he entered adulthood as a hard drinking and carousing frat boy, marriage and a religious transformation helped him conquer alcoholism and catapulted him into the White House, the redemptive turnaround narrative that Americans admire. Bush also, however, according to McAdams, exhibited a "low openness to experience" that made him unreceptive to other points of view. McAdams upends the conventional wisdom regarding Bush's relationship with his father, finding that the son most often expressed admiration and love, turning the invasion of Iraq into more of a demonstration of filial devotion than an attempt to upstage his dad. Pay no heed to the ponderous title; this accessible and engaging psychobiography easily moves into a must-read tier of works on George W. Bush.
