All the Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings.

BUSH, George H.W.

Item Number: 355

New York: Scribners, 1999.

First edition. Octavo, original half cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Signed by President Bush on the title page. Uncommon signed in the book itself, as the former President did not engage in a promotional book tour for this work.

Organized chronologically, "All the Best" begins with eighteen-year-old George's letters to his parents during World War II, when, at the time he was commissioned, he was the youngest pilot in the Navy. Readers will gain insights into Bush's career highlights -- the oil business, his two terms in Congress, his ambassadorship to the U.N., his service as an envoy to China, his tenure with the Central Intelligence Agency, and of course, the vice presidency, the presidency, and the postpresidency. They will also observe a devoted husband, father, and American. Ranging from a love letter to Barbara and a letter to his mother about missing his daughter, Robin, after her death from leukemia to a letter to his children two weeks before Nixon's resignation to one written to them just before the beginning of Desert Storm, the writings are remarkable for their candor, humor, and poignancy.