Does W stand for Worst?

Frank Callahan has done his homework. The professor emeritus in finance and marketing at Chico State University has combed through George W. Bush’s record to come up with a litany of examples of malfeasance, corruption, incompetence and mismanagement. Anybody with a use for an almost encyclopedic collection of Bush travesties (in just 182 pages!) would find this book helpful. (It’s $14.95 at butterflypress@att.net or 1-866-712-8883.) On the other hand, it’s not easy reading. Callahan is no stylist, and there is not much in the way of narrative thread here. Emotion, yes—Callahan is really pissed off and doesn’t mince words—but it’s rough going literarily. For a similar compilation that’s just as damning but better written, try New York Times columnist Frank Rich’s excellent The Greatest Story Ever Sold.