CRONIES How Texas Business Became American Policy--and Brought Bush to Power ROBERT BRYCE

"in this election year, partisans looking for evidence of Republican corruption will find plenty of tidbits here."
Publishers Weekly

"Investigative reporter Bryce, who made mincemeat of Enron executives' perfidy in Pipe Dreams (2002), gives an equal shellacking to the old-boy, business-government network long established in Texas… Bryce makes all the connections with the clarity of a simple mathematical equation…His use of graphs, snapshot explanations, and timelines is especially helpful in unraveling the web of associations… A well-told tale whose sheer, documented scope of corruption and backslapping in a pernicious and virulent strain of cronyism will have readers agog--until the steam starts shooting from their ears."
Kirkus Reviews

"In this book, Bryce has captured the essence of Bush economics: Crony capitalism and special strokes for special folks."
Kevin Phillips, author of American Dynasty

"Sometimes even I forget how pervasive crony capitalism is in this state, how corrupt and complicit government is in creating the famous ‘healthy bidness climate,' and how tirelessly our politicians have worked to export the whole system to the rest of the nation. This history of how the Texas crony network became the national norm over several decades, with the Bush family in a starring role, is the kind of reporting we have come to expect from Robert Bryce. He is thorough, he is meticulous and he places the facts in the context of this continuing drama of corruption. I lived through most of it and reading Bryce still makes me say, ‘Whew! How did we let them get away with it?'"
Molly Ivins, co-author of Bushwhacked

"From Brown & Root's war profiteering in LBJ's Vietnam to Halliburton's insider deals in GW Bush's Iraq, Robert Bryce has researched and written a terrifying tale of incestuous relationships between the plundering class in Houston and Dallas and the governing class in Washington. As good an argument as you will find for the de-annexation of the Great, Bloated and Corrupt State of Texas."
Lou Dubose, co-author of Bushwhacked