The Family by Kitty Kelley; Bantam Press; Price: Rs.1,140; 704 pp It’s axiomatic that the world’s most powerful, respected and envied if not admired, nations are democracies. For instance the United States of America. It is powerful because the majority of the people are supportive of the government. It is respected because its institutions of government are transparent and genuinely accountable. And it is admired (even if its critics don’t admit it), because the first amendment to the US constitution uniquely guarantees the freedom of expression without any qualifications whatsoever. Unlike the Constitution of India, also a noble and valuable charter of governance, which permits government to impose “reasonable restrictions” upon the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. And don’t buy the self-righteous cant of post-independence India’s politicians, bureaucrats and intellectuals who rave and rant against America and its wicked, wicked ways. Three former presidents of India and almost every heavyweight politician, bureaucrat and intellectual have moved heaven and earth to help their children emigrate to America. Of course absolute freedom of speech extracts a price from the citizenry. There’s no shortage of people ready, willing and able to exercise this right which can make life very uncomfortable for the high and mighty and even for popular, duly elected presidents and pontiffs. One such person who exercises her right to freedom of expression fearlessly, confident in the protection of the system, is Washington-based biographer Kitty Kelley who specialises in writing tell-all biographies of the richest and most powerful people in the US. Over the past three decades she has written best-selling unauthorised biographies of Jackie Onassis, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan and the British royal family. And you can be certain that the subjects of these intensively researched life stories weren’t pleased by her handiwork. But quite evidently the public laps them up because all her books have been massive bestsellers. Unsurprisingly, Kelley’s latest book is the unauthorised tell-all family biography of contemporary America’s most high-profile family- the Bush dynasty of Kennebunkport, Maine (their summer home) and the king-size state of Texas. This is only the second family in American history after John Adams (1735-1826) and John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) to have produced father-son presidents. Moreover the Bush family has produced several senators, governors and other public officials. The rivetting history of the Bush dynasty which has not only produced two presidents but is already grooming more for the future, is the subject matter of this unputdownable book. A self-professed believer in writing biographies of “living icons who for better or for worse substantially influenced our culture”, while they are alive to “give them a chance to defend themselves”, Kelley says that despite their affinity for public office, the Bushes are rabidly averse to content and assessments they can’t control. “In writing contemporary biography, I’ve become accustomed to reluctant subjects who do not want their lives to be depicted without being able to control the content, but the Bushes, public figures for over fifty years, have been, by far, the most reluctant.…
