FIRST SON: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty.

• Author: Broder, David S.
• Position: Review

FIRST SON: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty by Bill Minutaglio Times Books, $25

THE GOVERNOR OF TEXAS AND Republican presidential hopeful is perhaps the most familiar unknown in American politics. We think we know him, because his name is so well worn and his parents, the former president and first lady, have been so much a part of our lives. But the eldest of their children, affable and engaging as he appears, is someone most voters are just beginning to define.

This book will help. It is not the place to go for a clear evaluation of George W. Bush's record as governor or his manner of governing. It is skimpy on those points, which are properly the subject of much other solid journalistic work.

Bill Minutaglio, a special writer for the Dallas Morning News, does exactly what his title says, places its subject solidly in the context of his family--and that is the right place to start figuring out who and what George W. is.

He is a Bush, which means he is part of a clan which has lived comfortably at the heights of affluence and influence for four generations. One great-grandfather, Samuel P. Bush, was the first president of the National Association of Manufacturers and a close advisor to President Herbert Hoover. Another, George Herbert Walker, founded Brown Brothers Harriman, the oldest and largest private investment house on Wall Street, and was an early backer of FDR for the presidency.

The governor's grandfather was a senator; his father, a president; and for almost his entire life, favors flowed to George W., not because he sought them, but as part of his inheritance.

As Minutaglio demonstrates more fully than anyone else I have read, literally everything in Bush's resume up to his election as governor in 1994 was to a substantial degree handed to him. Schools, summer jobs, college, military service, marriage, and a succession of short-term, increasingly lucrative employment opportunities all were facilitated by members and friends of the Bush clan.

During much of that time, Bush himself was casual to the point of being lackadaisical about capitalizing on his many opportunities. He was a cut-up, a young man with many friends and few clear goals. But he was also the first son, and eventually, the expectations of his parents and the whole family broke through his natural nonchalance and he...