Get our latest book recommendations, author news, and competitions right to your inbox.
Table of Contents
About The Book
The most intimate portrait of George H.W. Bush ever published.
George Herbert Walker Bush, the forty-first president of the United States and the patriarch of America’s most powerful political dynasty, never wrote a memoir. But bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Richard Ben Cramer took the full measure of President Bush in his thousand-page epic, What It Takes—one of the most influential and respected works of journalism and biography of the modern era.
Drawn from those pages and edited by Cramer shortly before he died, this book traces how seminal moments in President Bush’s life formed his character and foretold his legacy. The result is a loving portrait that remains as fresh, relevant, and insightful as the day it was first published.
George Herbert Walker Bush, the forty-first president of the United States and the patriarch of America’s most powerful political dynasty, never wrote a memoir. But bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Richard Ben Cramer took the full measure of President Bush in his thousand-page epic, What It Takes—one of the most influential and respected works of journalism and biography of the modern era.
Drawn from those pages and edited by Cramer shortly before he died, this book traces how seminal moments in President Bush’s life formed his character and foretold his legacy. The result is a loving portrait that remains as fresh, relevant, and insightful as the day it was first published.
About The Author
Photo Credit:
Richard Ben Cramer (1950-2013) won the Pulitzer Prize for Middle East reporting in 1979. His journalism has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. He is the author of How Israel Lost: The Four Questions and the classic of modern American politics What It Takes: The Way to the White House.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (May 7, 2013)
- Length: 192 pages
- ISBN13: 9781476745596
Raves and Reviews
“Truly groundbreaking . . . Still fresh after more than 20 years.”
– Chicago Tribune
"A classic."
– Margalit Fox, The New York Times
"Quite possibly the finest book on presidential politics ever written, combining meticulous reporting and compelling, at times soaringly lyrical, prose."
– Cleveland Plain Dealer
"What It Takes does for politicians what Tom Wolfe did for astronauts in The Right Stuff . . . an epic."
– Time
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Being Poppy eBook 9781476745596(2.3 MB)
- Author Photo (jpg): Richard Ben Cramer Photo Credit:(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
