After eight years of George W. Bush being in office as president of the United States, many of us including author Russ Baker were asking questions concerning the Bush legacy. How did a person who some have termed the most unpopular president in American history get to be president in the first place? Who were his backers and do we really know anything about the network of powerful political forces that helped to boost him in the Oval Office? In his groundbreaking book, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America, Russ Baker digs deep into the lives of the Bush dynasty, which include George W. Bush (nicknamed W.) and his father George H. W. Bush (nicknamed “Poppy”). And little did Baker realize at the time he was writing the book, that he would unearth the main characters in American history of the last fifty years, history that you never knew.

The network of figures that encircled the Bush dynasty included intelligence, the military, finance, and oil tycoons who enabled the family’s rise to power. Many of the exclusive players which have played key roles in past decades often go unnoticed in the history books, living in secretive existences. What Baker discovers during his five years of painstakingly investigative work is that W. and father Poppy both have lived dual lives, one in the public eye and the other far removed from any scrutiny from the press. What we thought we knew about the two presidents and who they really were, turn out to be in total contrast, very much contradicting the stories that the mainstream media have portrayed.

Baker deserves more credit than he is getting for detecting secrets that we would have never deciphered ourselves. Both presidents were members of a secret society club in Yale, called Skull and Bones. Also, Poppy Bush had served in the CIA since he was a very young man, another little known tidbit. There are many secrets about Poppy that we didn’t have a clue.

In the first explosive half of Family of Secrets, we find that Poppy is attached to a circle of notable friends that were connected to the JFK assassination. Poppy is familiar with one of Lee Harvey Oswald’s closest friends, an important figure named George de Mohrenschildt.  Mohrenschildt met Oswald in the summer of 1962 and maintained a friendship until Oswald’s death, and he was aquainted with Poppy Bush.

Another fact should be noted here. Poppy Bush had told the public that he didn’t remember where he was on November 22, 1963, in the time frame of the shooting of President John F. Kennedy. Poppy even makes a phone call to the FBI, thus creating an alibi in case his whereabouts would ever come into question.

More relevant information is reported by Baker. “Poppy was closely tied to key members of the intelligence community including the deposed CIA head with a known grudge against JFK.” Baker brilliantly exposes a plot of hatred against Kennedy from Howard Hunt (a Nixon White House “plumber”), Allen Dulles (the CIA head that Kennedy fired), and the Bush family. The hostility seems to stem from the Cuban intervention and the subsequent political fallout.

The connection between Poppy and President Nixon is known by few people, not to mention his close friendship with President Lyndon Johnson. Nixon’s political career was financed by Poppy’s father Prescott Bush and friends, and we see this strange relationship that develops between Poppy and Nixon. In the end, Poppy betrays President Nixon and this leads to the famous scandal known as Watergate.

Baker finds out that Watergate was nothing like that was portrayed in the newspapers, on television, and in the movies. It is seldom understood that in fact, Nixon was indeed setup by the CIA, which is contrary to what most people believe. Nixon had been in conflict with the CIA and in the end they would make him pay for it.

Nixon was in Florida on vacation at the time of the Watergate burglary. As described in his notes, “Nixon was actually suggesting not just a setup, but one intended to harm him.” Nixon must have known that they were out to get him.

And we observe inextricably linked ties between the Kennedy assassination and the Watergate scandal. Poppy Bush is entangled with prominent intelligence circles that may have been involved in several relevant historical events, one of which points to the “Bay of Pigs thing”  which is tied to all-things-Cuba.

Poppy is mysteriously involved in his Zapata company where he travels around the world, and his company is thought to have been a cover for intelligence, or front company. His son would not fall far from the tree, as he himself had a similar company known as Harken Energy, which becomes instrumental in the rise of W. Bush.

W. is involved in many scandals and controversial acts, including the bombing of the World Trade Center. During his presidency, W. would have to answer why he went AWOL, when he failed to serve his last two years of service while he was in the Air National Guard. W. would send troops to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, as he hid his past history of avoiding the Vietnam conflict. This was not going to be discussed by the press with the exception of Dan Rather, who gets entangled in a mess that he did not create, known as the Killian documents controversy. Rather resigned as anchorman in 2005.

W. is accused of insider trading because he made big profits from the sale of his stock in Harken Energy, taken into consideration that the company would go bust just a few months later.

“In April 1989, Rangers owner and oil tycoon Eddie Chiles, sold the team to an investment group headed by George W. Bush, son of the President of the United States, George H. W. Bush. After hearing that Chiles planned to sell the team, Bush headed a group of investors that bought the team for $89 million.”

“The Rangers and the City of Arlington decided to replace the aging Arlington Stadium with a new publicly funded stadium, at a cost of $193 million, financed by Arlington residents, through a sales tax increase.” W. would make a fortune from his Texas Rangers in a controversial affair which “the city, through the Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority authorized the seizure of 13 acres of land through eminent domain for the Rangers future development.”

Perhaps one of the most disturbing elements of Family of Secrets is Poppy Bush’s lack of recollection during the day of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. This is one concept that took author Russ Baker five years to fully grasp and to come to terms with, which is considered “professional quicksand” for journalists. Baker said he had nightmares and panic attacks, although he kept persisting with his research.

All of these facts and more are documented in his powerfully intriguing masterpiece, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America, where you find history that you never knew. This sizzling publication is one that you just can’t put down. If you’re going to read one book about history or politics this year, then this is the one!

Russ Baker is a US investigative journalist and founder of the nonprofit website WhoWhatWhy.com. His recurring themes are politics, secrecy, and abuses of power. His recent writings have focused on elites in finance, resource extraction, military and intelligence operations, and their quiet influence over national and global political and economic affairs.

In 2009 Bloomsbury published his book Family of Secrets: the Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America. The paperback edition was released in November 2009 under the title Family of Secrets: the Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years. The book has been reviewed by many print and electronic journals.