"He was the last of a kind, and his rise, his fall, and his rebirth in the twilight of his life offers a window on a great deal of American history." An intimate and detailed life story of a man known only through his politics, or from a distance. From interviews and unprecedented access to Bush's presidential diaries, Meacham brings Bush and the great American family vividly to life, beginning in the Midwest in the late 1800's and on to George H. W. Bush's childhood, his heroic service in World War II, Texas, his political rise. With Meacham's trademark compelling narration, historical depth, and contemporary insight, this stunning biography reveals the unusual self-reflections and distinctive American life of a man from the Greatest Generation who pursued a life of service as a guardian of America in the way of Eisenhower, and was one of the last gentleman in our political world. #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER .In this "illuminating" (USA Today) biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham chronicles the life of George Herbert Walker Bush. "Destiny and Power reflects the qualities of both subject and biographer- judicious, balanced, deliberative, with a deep appreciation of history and the personalities who shape it."-The New York Times Book Review ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR . A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR- The New York Times Book Review, Time, NPR, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Drawing on President Bush's personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the forty-first president and his family, Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times. From the Oval Office to Camp David, from his study in the private quarters of the White House to Air Force One, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the first Gulf War to the end of Communism, Destiny and Power charts the thoughts, decisions, and emotions of a modern president who may have been the last of his kind. This is the human story of a man who was, like the nation he led, at once noble and flawed. From the Pacific to the presidency, Destiny and Power charts the vicissitudes of the life of this quietly compelling American original. Meacham sheds new light on the rise of the right wing in the Republican Party, a shift that signaled the beginning of the end of the center in American politics. Destiny and Power is an affecting portrait of a man who, driven by destiny and by duty, forever sought, ultimately, to put the country first.