Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
William Morrow (2022), 608 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Politics. Nonfiction. HTML: INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The former attorney general provides a candid account of his historic tenures serving two vastly different presidents, George H.W. Bush and Donald J. Trump. William Barr's first tenure as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush was largely the result of chance, while his second tenure under President Donald Trump a deliberate and difficult choice. In this candid memoir, Barr takes readers behind the scenes during seminal moments of the 1990s, from the LA riots to Pan Am 103 and Iran Contra. Thirty years later, Barr faced an unrelenting barrage of issues, such as Russiagate, the COVID outbreak, civil unrest, the impeachments, and the 2020 election fallout. One Damn Thing After Another is vivid, forthright, and essential not only to understanding the Bush and Trump legacies, but also how both men viewed power and justice at critical junctures of their presidencies..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member DeaconBernie
Reading this book took a lot longer than expected was surprise number one.
Barr’s treatment of Donald Trump was surprise number two.
The entire content of the book was surprise number three.
What I expected and what I got was surprise number four.
Mr. Barr has written a book that is extensive in
It is my opinion that many people chose to read this book simply because of who Barr was to Donald Trump and many of them will have been disappointed. Yes, Barr does expose some of the less desirable qualities of Trump but he also exposes qualities that will come as a surprise to many and amazement to a few. At once, Barr strongly makes the point that Trump was treated as no other President in recent memory. Still, he also says that Trump is a venal man. It is clear that Trump and Barr strongly disagreed on some things but they were in sync far more often. Barr goes out of his way to make it clear he was his own man. There were times when he was strongly urged by the President to do one thing or another. There were times when they were on the same page but other times they were clearly opposed, and Barr states he never backed down
The book was far more than the memoirs of an Attorney General and the President he worked for. From Chapter 8 thru 23, he describes the work he did during his years in the Trump administration. This is more than a simple tabulation; it is educational to the extent he describes the normal work of the AG and the foundational principles. This could almost be described as a primer on the office of AG.
The surprise between what I expected and what I got centered on how much time Barr devotes to Trump – far less than expected. But it is also clear that Barr is an entrenched part of the establishment, the folks who feel it is their duty to keep the United States on a certain path – not narrow but broad enough to contain the views of the elite. Take for instance the few times Barr mentions Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine. He dismissively defines him as an actor with the implication he can’t be a serious leader. In fairness, the book was mostly written before Zelenskyy came to be a world-wide hero figure.
Barr’s treatment of Donald Trump was surprise number two.
The entire content of the book was surprise number three.
What I expected and what I got was surprise number four.
Mr. Barr has written a book that is extensive in
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context. Both of his terms of office were less than 2 years but with all he compacted in those two terms he must have been a tremendously busy man. He seems capable of consuming vast amounts of data while keeping it coherent and still able to speak forthrightly and able to lead a principle part of the government. That is the hallmark of a special kind of mind. If not genius, then a mind that never rests and is always seeking.It is my opinion that many people chose to read this book simply because of who Barr was to Donald Trump and many of them will have been disappointed. Yes, Barr does expose some of the less desirable qualities of Trump but he also exposes qualities that will come as a surprise to many and amazement to a few. At once, Barr strongly makes the point that Trump was treated as no other President in recent memory. Still, he also says that Trump is a venal man. It is clear that Trump and Barr strongly disagreed on some things but they were in sync far more often. Barr goes out of his way to make it clear he was his own man. There were times when he was strongly urged by the President to do one thing or another. There were times when they were on the same page but other times they were clearly opposed, and Barr states he never backed down
The book was far more than the memoirs of an Attorney General and the President he worked for. From Chapter 8 thru 23, he describes the work he did during his years in the Trump administration. This is more than a simple tabulation; it is educational to the extent he describes the normal work of the AG and the foundational principles. This could almost be described as a primer on the office of AG.
The surprise between what I expected and what I got centered on how much time Barr devotes to Trump – far less than expected. But it is also clear that Barr is an entrenched part of the establishment, the folks who feel it is their duty to keep the United States on a certain path – not narrow but broad enough to contain the views of the elite. Take for instance the few times Barr mentions Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine. He dismissively defines him as an actor with the implication he can’t be a serious leader. In fairness, the book was mostly written before Zelenskyy came to be a world-wide hero figure.
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LibraryThing member highlander6022
An incredibly informative and revealing book. This is AG Bill Barr’s memoir, his life story. In the book you will see many of the inner workings of the Trump administration from Barr’s experience. Certainly, it must be read with the understanding that Barr is a conservative and he shows that in
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the book, especially when he addresses many of the Progressive Left’s approach to things, the media’s drum beat against Donald Trump, and an overall conservative viewpoint to many of today’s issues. And yet, his logic is well stated. And for those that might consider reading the book and decide not to because of Barr’s work as AG under Trump, please reconsider. Barr is no fan of Donald Trump. We all saw Trump‘s personality show through in many areas in his public life – but Barr provides an insight into the layers underneath of Trump’s personality that we never saw in public. Barr reveals how Trump was his own enemy in many respects, rejecting advice from Barr and others in his administration – not from a well thought out perspective, but from Trump’s personality/history of being a brawler (you might get away with that in a business that you have built, but it is not an approach that works in the Presidency), and that it was and will always be all about Trump. Barr believed that Trump had it in his grasp to beat Biden at the ballot box but came out swinging in the campaign and repeatedly shot himself in the foot. Barr’s memoir may make many in Trump’s camp angry or even refuse to finish reading the book, but I strongly recommend you read it through to the end. The last few chapters are pure conservative analysis of the current issues of the day, from cancel culture to the news media, Supreme Court issues and others. Those chapters will very much anger the left side of the aisle, and in my thinking, they are very deserving of the criticisms. It will be difficult for them to read, and of course, they will think Barr should be “cancelled”! Show Less
Original language
English
Physical description
608 p.; 9 inches
ISBN
0063158604 / 9780063158603
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