A political biography of George HW Bush, emphasizing his ethic of public service, conciliatory politics, and establishmentarian approach to foreign affairs. Bush was a decent man and more effective than contemporaries recognized. The biography portrays his Connecticut family’s blue blood, in which sports was a measure of character, and points up his unusual pursuit of becoming a naval aviator prior to attending college. But details of his largely independent success as a Texas oil man are sparse, as the author rushes onto Bush’s nascent political career. Reaching Washington’s upper echelon over the course of the 1960s, Bush was loyal to Nixon as he would be to Reagan — even though he was seen as a good loser. (How significant really was his rivalry with Donald Rumsfeld?) As president, he is credited with skillfully managing the Cold War’s denouement, the Iraq war, and the coup against Gorbachev. Yet despite tick-tock details supplemented by deep access to primary materials — diaries and interviews — Meacham unsatisfactorily characterizes the political revolution of 1981-92. Therefore he is less skillful in attributing the cause of Clinton’s surprise electoral win: was it poor campaigning, sociopolitical change, or something more? (The irony of Clinton’s draft dodging, in comparison with Bush’s service, is unremarked.) Ultimately, the work reads as a consensus view of America’s (Democratic) establishment from the safety of a quarter century.