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book reviews

back to book reviews home Author: J.H. Hatfield Title: Fortunate Son Publisher: Soft Skull

James Hatfield knows how to hold his tongue. Fortunate Son reads almost like a text book, giving a step by step look at our buffoon president from womb to war-mongerer and astonishingly enough, without the use of biased language and personal attacks (at least not from the author). I don’t know how Hatfield was able to record so many shady business dealings and vile campaign tactics without using at least a couple of expletives. This enormous repression of emotion probably helps explain why Hatfield killed himself in a hotel room a couple of years ago. Public records supply the greater amount of knowledge on Bush’s business fiascos, campaign mudslinging and illegal stock activity, however the most controversial information (cocaine usage, shady business ties, his unlikely acceptance into the National Guard) is claimed to have come from three confidential sources close in business and family to the Bush family. According to the documentary “Horns and Halos” (another Soft Skull project detailing the making of Fortunate Son) the source names were released when Bush declared his intention to run for president. The Bush administration brushed aside Hatfield as a felon with a checkered past and the media being as partisan as it is, followed suit. All in all, I stand by the textbook comparison; there were no humorous interjections, no interesting author’s notes or colorful conspiracy theories, there was no lightening of the dark mood at all. Fortunate Son is a biography, sans the typical fluff and hand jobs, of our country’s most infamous thief.

Rebecca Martin