Synopsis
In this scathing critique of the George W. Bush presidency, Frank Rich of the New York Times portrays Bush as a snake oil salesman, whose blatant use and misuse of language to reshape reality amounts, in his account, to a big con--one that clearly causes the author apoplexy. Rich chronicles what he sees as the many troubling incidents of duplicity over Bush's two terms, including the Jessica Lynch tall tale and Bush's reassurances over Hurricane Katrina, the event which more than any other seemed to pull back the curtain and reveal the truth about the Wizard of Oz in the White House. Rich also spares some venom for his fellow members of the reporting community, whom he holds accountable for allowing or facilitating the White House's version of reality.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2006-09-26 |
| Size | | Length: | 341 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 22.4 oz |
Publisher's Note
A New York Times columnist reveals the spin campaign of the Bush administration that the author contends enabled the support of a war against a non-September 11 enemy, furthered conservative agendas, and dangerously consolidated presidential power, in an account that also reveals how the mainstream news media was prevented from exposing propaganda tactics. 250,000 first printing.
Industry Reviews
"Rich's subject is the creation of false reality. THE GREATEST STORY EVER SOLD is not about policies or geopolitical analysis....[T]he point of Rich's fine polemic is that the Bush administration has consistently lied about the reasons for going to war, about the way it was conducted and about the terrible consequences....If Rich is correct, which I think he is, the Bush administration has given hypocrisy a bad name."
(09/17/2006)
"Most of THE GREATEST STORY EVER SOLD is a straight, well-researched, clearly written narrative of Bush and his cohorts' lies, deceptions and misdeeds, and of the cowardly and lazy press and 'opposition party' that let him get away with them."
(09/21/2006)
"Love him or waterboard him--some conservatives prefer the latter idea--Rich employs every rhetorical stratagem from kitchen-sink evidence to eye-rolling metaphors in his quest to persuade. Whatever you think of his politics, THE GREATEST STORY brims with delicious one-liners."
(09/26/2006)
"As he does in his columns, Rich catches the small but telling piece of information that escaped the notice of the average or even the obsessive reader...."
(05/31/2007)
"The most original and thought-provoking insights in...Frank Rich's meticulously researched chronicle of the Bush administration's exploits, come in his searing analysis of the role that the "new mediathon" has played in the demise of fact-driven public discourse....If the public does not heed Mr. Rich's warnings, perhaps the news media will answer his call for coverage that more aggressively separates fiction from reality as a step toward a more truthful civic life."
(09/22/2006)
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