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The President of Good and Evil: Taking George W. Bush Seriously
by Peter Singer
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Granta Books (2004-04-17)
ISBN: 1862076936
EAN: 9781862076938
Dewy Decimal #: 324
Paperback: 256 pages
SKU: B435-1263
Condition: Like New
Comments: UNREAD but may have minor imperfections such as a crease or mark. In stock - quick dispatch, from an efficient and professional leading British bookselling firm.
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Peter Singer's The President of Good and Evil is vital reading for anyone concerned with honesty and probity in Bush's Whitehouse, and in political life generally. Most famous for his challenging views (espoused in books such as Animal Liberation and Rethinking Life and Death) on when and where sentience begins and ends, and hence when and where the rights associated with it should be granted, Singer is a forthright, profound thinker. Astonishingly clear in its line of argumentation, Singer here has decided to take George Dubya at his word and then investigate whether his words and actions unite in any kind of a coherent viewpoint. Singer does not do much to define ethics (an increasingly important aspect of modern philosophical debate: Simon Blackburn's Ethics: A Very Short Introduction is useful; Alain Badiou's Ethics an interesting contribution) but rather rests the majority of his case on Bush's own lack of consistency and logic. Singer clearly addresses the cynical view that Bush's proclamations need not ever be interrogated as he is merely, inevitably, spinning a politician's line. But Singer believes--line or not--that whether what is presented is logical, or right, is hugely important. Singer has produced an excellent book. Plenty of facts and figures back up his case that "sincerely held or not, Bush's ethic is woefully inadequate" but this is never merely an empirical argument. Singer agrees with Dubya that ethics can be taught and that they can be evaluated. Bush, in Singer's well-documented evaluation, needs to get learning. --Mark Thwaite
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Customer Reviews
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Whatever your opinion of Bush, this is worth a read.
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-02-08
I found this book to be particularly enlightening and very hard to dismiss. Unlike other critiques of the Bush administration, this one had a serious, intellection foundation. It examined Bush's speeches and compared them to his policies in several areas, and finally compared his overall attitude to various ethical systems, in order to see if Bush is in any way consistent.
The results are damning.
Peter Singer writes clearly and retains the reader's attention. He references well and overall produces an excellent work. Whatever your opinion on his animal rights work, this is excellent and deserves to be studied by anyone who feels they are affected in any way by Bush.
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if only i could give it 10 stars!
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-12-27
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Peter Singer writes a decisive book on the morality of george w bush. judging him not by his deeds and actions. What stands out about this book and most of singers other work is how he buids the argument. he does this by a process of basic reasoning. starting with simple premises that he builds into more complex arguments. this method takes the reader gently through the process, making it extremely hard to argue against a position of pure logic. this methodology & avoidance of emotive reasoning makes the author stand out from many of the other books available. he is credited with being one of the driving forces behind the animal liberation movement, ending cosmetic testing and is surely one of the eminent ethicists of our time.
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Incisive
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-08-16
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Even for those who feel like they can already see the inconsistencies and incoherence of Bush's ethic, I highly recommend this book. It is clear and accessible; it feels well-planned but reads naturally, not like a manual. One of those books that will, inevitably, not be read by people who ought to read it.
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OK but nothing groundbreaking
Rating  (3)
Date: 2004-08-12
7 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
Unlike some recent work (eg. Michael Moore) I found Singer's work pretty fair and intelligent. Peter Singer's study of George Bush's ethics focussing on six key issues.
i) Does Bush's pro-life stance square up to his views on the death penalty?
ii) Whether Bush's infringements on civil liberties in justified in the wake of the terrorist threat.
iii) The relationship of Bush's religious faith to public policy
iv) The American attitude to global warming and its refusal to submit to the Kyoto protocol
v) Bush approach to international aid
vi) The justification (or otherwise) of the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan and Bush's role in pushing these through. For a book whose sleeve gives the book the grandiose aim of examining "How well do the ethics of George W Bush stand up to scrutiny by one of the world's leading philosophers?" I must admit that I was not immediately impressed. One of Singer's first chapters was on the contentious issue of stem cell research (Bush is opposed to this on the grounds that human life is special and should be protected). Singer concludes (quite rightly) that Bush's views are inconsistent with his views on the death penalty and the willingness he showed in going to war and uses this inconsistency as an argument against Bush's position. However, inconsistency alone does not count as a good argument. After all, it may well be the case that on stem cell research Bush is right and he is wrong on the other two counts. I was disappointed because the whole chapter was not as result a reasoned critique but mere political mudslinging/point scoring of the "You say X but do Y variety". After this the argument picked up, however. The rest of the book, while easily accessible, was an intelligent analysis. Particularly impressive is the even-handedness Singer shows. On two counts, these being the interaction between Bush's politics and religion and his record on international development, Singer commended Bush whilst still maintaining a general critical stance. Ranked alongside other popular books on Bush's record both nationally and internationally this book while not groundbreaking is definitely worth a read.
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