Jon Meacham will bring his book tour to Naperville at 7PM on Fri., Dec. 4 when he’ll present his new book in a talk at Meiley-Swallow Hall on the campus of North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth.
After winning a Pulitzer Prize for his 2008 biography of Andrew Jackson, Meacham now comes with his latest exceptionally-researched biography, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush. Released November 10, the book is already a #1 New York Times bestseller.
And here’s why: Meacham is acclaimed for the great depth of his research and his way of making history come alive for readers. In this case, his subject is recent history, the key decisions and the important ramifications of the first Bush presidency. It’s fascinating reading.
Anderson’s Bookshop is sponsoring the local event and invites the public to attend. Tickets are required and available with the purchase of the featured new book, Destiny and Power, from Anderson’s. The event includes Meacham’s presentation and Q & A, followed by a book signing.
Anderson’s Bookshop is located at 123 W. Jefferson Ave. in downtown Naperville, (630) 355-2665, or fans may visit www.andersonsbookshop.com.
What others are saying
“Destiny and Power reflects the qualities of both subject and biographer: judicious, balanced, and deliberative, with a deep appreciation of history and the personalities who shape it. If Meacham is sometimes polite to a fault, Destiny and Power does not suffer for it. His kinder, gentler approach succeeds in making George H. W. Bush a more sympathetic — and more complex — figure than if the former president had written his own doorstopper after all.”—New York Times Book Review
“Destiny and Power is sympathetic but not sycophantic, written from Bush’s perspective but with a journalist’s rigor…[Bush’s] contributions, including managing the end of the Cold War, long have been overshadowed by the larger personalities that came before and after — Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton — and by his own reluctance to brag. Meacham’s illuminating book takes a big step toward remedying that.” —USA Today, four out of four stars review
“When we rank, reconsider, laud, or denounce past Presidents, living or dead, we are taking stock of our own times. In that sense, the vindication of George H. W. Bush is a reflection of what we know we’ve lost. Jon Meacham’s new biography of Bush, Destiny and Power, makes that plain from its very first pages.”—New Yorker
“Jon Meacham, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Andrew Jackson, put an enormous amount of work into this volume: nine years of interviews, full access to the diaries of George H.W. and Barbara Bush, and an open door to family members and friends. Add to this Meacham’s balanced journalism and smooth writing, and you have a fascinating biography of the 41st president.”—Dallas Morning News
“The more time passes, the more the dust settles, the clearer it becomes that George H. W. Bush and the strengths of character he brought to his long service to this country deserve more attention and appreciation. And now comes Destiny and Power, Jon Meacham’s altogether fair, insightful biography of the 41st president—a portrait made especially compelling by the author’s remarkable access to Bush’s private White House diaries. This is a timely, first-rate book!”—David McCullough
“What a spectacular and moving portrait this is – not only of a remarkably classy man but of the era that shaped him! It is hard to imagine a biographer more fitted than Jon Meacham to write what will surely be the definitive work on George Herbert Walker Bush.” —Doris Kearns Goodwin
“Jon Meacham’s timely and intimate biography of President George Bush 41 is a welcome reminder of this modest president’s call to service from the cockpits of WWII to the Oval Office and the end of the Cold War. Here you’ll meet a man of patrician manners, war time heroics, Texas assimilation, party and personal loyalty with a refined sense of power that carried him into history. Meet the George Bush you didn’t know.” —Tom Brokaw
“This astonishing book is both timely and timeless. Based on candid interviews and intimate letters and diaries, it provides a deep insight into the character of George H. W. Bush flavored with colorful anecdotes depicting his relationships with people ranging from Gorbachev and Reagan to his sons George and Jeb. The result is a fascinating and insightful portrayal of the life of an exemplary American citizen.” —Walter Isaacson
“This riveting biography by the incomparable Jon Meacham gives George H.W. Bush his well-deserved place in history. Destiny and Power is full of surprises, revealing 41’s important role in scene after crucial historical scene of the past seven decades. President Bush used to say that he could never quite convey his ‘heartbeat’ to Americans. Now, using a treasure of heretofore-unseen diaries and other documents, as well as his own detailed interviews, Meacham takes us behind closed doors to show us what this sometimes-misunderstood leader was really like.” — Michael Beschloss
About the Book, Destiny and Power
Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries; on the diaries of his wife, Barbara; and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and to his family, Jon Meacham has written a surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times. From the Oval Office to Camp David, from his study in the private quarters of the White House to Air Force One, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the first Gulf War to the end of communism, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (Random House Publishing) by Jon Meacham charts the thoughts, decisions, and emotions of a man who was, like the nation he led, at once noble and flawed.
Born into a privileged, loving, competitive family, Bush joined the Navy on his 18th birthday and was shot down on a combat mission over the Pacific at age 20. He married young, started a family, and finished college in two and a half years. Resisting pressure to work on Wall Street, he instead struck out for the adventurous world of Texas oil. He would become the father of six children, including a daughter who tragically died at the age of three. With his formidable wife, Barbara, whom he fell in love with at the age of sixteen, he built a life in Texas before entering American politics.
Bush rose from the chairmanship of his county Republican Party to serve as a congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, head of the Republican National Committee, envoy to China, director of Central Intelligence, vice president under Ronald Reagan, and finally president of the United States. He is the only president since John Adams to see his son also hold the office.
George H. W. Bush’s life was defined by the tension between his consuming ambition and his fundamental decency. In campaigns his ambition would win out, and he learned to run, and run hard. In office, though, Bush tended to put aside harsh tactics, often putting his view of the national interest ahead of his own political well-being. For Bush, public service was the highest of callings, self-effacement—up to a point—a virtue, civility a given. Culturally and temperamentally, he had much in common with the early presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison) and with the later patricians (Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt)—men with a sense of command and a certitude that they were destined to direct the affairs of the nation. Bush was a president more in the mold of an Eisenhower than a Kennedy or a Reagan. He prized steadiness over sizzle, substance over style, and his virtues have only grown clearer as the years have passed.
Destiny and Power is the story of this quietly compelling American original. Reluctant to express his feelings in public, Bush used his tape-recorded diaries to capture his private emotions and thoughts, his frustrations and his occasional fears. Meacham uses the diaries to bring Bush’s years in power to life, shedding light on the rise of the right wing in the Republican Party, on the complexities of bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end, and on Bush’s assiduous diplomacy and steely determination in the first Gulf War, including his willingness to face impeachment if Congress failed to authorize the use of force against Saddam Hussein. In the diaries and in interviews, Bush offers candid assessments of many of the critical figures of the age, ranging from Richard Nixon to Nancy Reagan; Mao to Mikhail Gorbachev; Dick Cheney to Donald Rumsfeld; Henry Kissinger to Bill Clinton. Here is high politics as it really is but as we rarely see it.
Even the most jaded observer of today’s political scene will gain newfound respect for a leader who is perhaps best described as one of the last gentlemen of American public life, a president who embraced compromise, engaged political foes, and broke with his party’s base to do what he thought was right. A product of the Greatest Generation, Bush was driven by ambition, but ultimately believed in the virtues of duty, honor and country.
Brief about the Author
Jon Meacham received the Pulitzer Prize for his 2008 biography of Andrew Jackson, American Lion. An executive editor at Random House, he is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Gospel, and Franklin and Winston. Meacham, who teaches at Vanderbilt University and at The University of the South, is a fellow of the Society of American Historians. He lives in Nashville and in Sewanee with his wife and children.
For more information about the upcoming Jon Meacham event, contact Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville at (630) 355-2665.
Anderson’s Bookshops specialize in book sales, author events, book signings, and building a sense of community, learning and fun. The store has been helping Naperville readers for six generations. Based in downtown Naperville, the store has grown with the community. Additionally store locations include Downers Grove and La Grange. Anderson’s gift shop, Two Doors East, 111 W. Jefferson Ave., launched in Naperville in 2009.
News submitted by Candy Purdom and Ginny Wehrli-Hemmeter for Anderson’s Bookshop
