41, By George W. Bush: A Father’s Life Through His Son’s Eyes

But as much as the book is a chronicle of two brilliant political careers, it is also a touching portrait of a man and a family. 41 is filled with intimate memories of the ordinary moments in extraordinary lives, and it is in these quiet remembrances that the book’s true strength lies, grounding the story of a great man in the familiar trappings of the universal, the everyday. That’s what gives it its power and immediacy—these five stories could belong to any family.
“I love you more than tongue can tell.”
In the book’s most heartfelt passages, George W. Bush recounts the untimely passing of his 3-year-old sister Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953. Bush writes eloquently of the way her illness and eventual end has haunted his father, and how some of her final words to him, softly whispered, became a family mantra and an enduring legacy of the bond between parent and child: “I love you more than tongue can tell.”
Needlepoint kept Barbara Bush sane on the campaign trail.
George H.W. Bush’s 1964 Texas Senate campaign was a family affair: wife and children accompanied him on the road as he visited every county in the state. Though George W. Bush has fond memories of watching his dad in action, Barbara Bush had to find her own amusements to distract her from the tedium of listening to the same speeches over and over again. Her solution: needlepointing purses for key volunteers on the campaign trail. (No doubt these personal gifts have become treasured family heirlooms.)
George H.W. Bush spent the eve of his first presidential debate searching for a lost puppy.
It would seem that not even the world’s most powerful politician is free from that bone-chilling parental fear: what are we going to do if the kid ever loses her favorite toy? George H.W. Bush was faced with this clear and present danger on the night before he faced Michael Dukakis in the first debate of the 1988 presidential campaign. His granddaughters Barbara and Jenna were visiting, and sometime during the night, Barbara realized she’d misplaced her cherished stuffed dog, Spikey. Hours before he was set to debate his rival in front of millions of Americans, the elder Bush spent half the night searching the house and grounds for the lost toy (spoiler alert: he did finally locate Spikey).
The Bush twins went trick-or-treating in midair.
Kids likewise are hardly going to let a little thing like a contest to determine the next leader of the free world distract them from the prospect of free candy. As the ’88 campaign reached its climax, George W. Bush remembers laughing as he watched his twins, dressed as a vampire and a pack of Juicy Fruit gum, pose with their grandpa before trick-or-treating among the press corps flying with the family on Air Force Two.
Sibling rivalry is universal.
In 1994, two years after George H.W. Bush lost his reelection bid to Bill Clinton, both George W. and Jeb Bush ran for governor in their home states. George W. was victorious in Texas, and Jeb lost a squeaker in Florida. When he called his father to celebrate, George W. could sense the man was distracted by thoughts of Jeb’s pain and disappointment (knowing all too well the sting of political failure). “The joy is in Texas,” the senior Bush told reporters, “but our hearts are in Florida.”
To read more about the Bush family, and the careers and lives of George W. and George H.W., pick up 41. 
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