Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors

I live in Texas and have liked President Bush for many years. After all these years, he remains an interesting and compassionate person. These portraits are nicely done and tell each individual’s contribution to humanity. Kindness and compassion matter as does respect for every individual.

I have started reading this book, moved by tears at moments, and also encouraged by Mr. Bush's humility, sincerity, compassion, and empathy (unlike many other presidents). I have been watching his artistry for quite awhile, and am very proud of him. George Bush is a fabulous, expert artist and he always had this talent within him. His portraits are profound, meaningful, and at the same moment, the portraits speak accolades of great women and men whose essential love for our country superseded their own joys and happiness. These paintings are not only valuable and beautiful, but the people are exceptional. The book is beautifully produced, highly unique, and culturally significant. These are priceless. It is a great find to see a portrait artist make works that are so significant and meaningful. The world's cultural communities are oft time busy piling up garbage as art and putting very little technical skills or empathy into their work. Universities have been encouraging decay and depressive art and allowing in students that do not care at all about people, discouraging paintings and paintings of people, encouraging decay of technical techniques and passionate artistry and making art that veers away from loving our four legged friends, our fellow human beings, and our natural environments. Pile garbage parts together and then move it to the exhibit is the consensus oft time. George brings new meaning to human beings and their lives as he openly reveals his empathetic side instead of the arrogant old-style of leadership where no one appeared to have any heart at all. God bless George, all his, and all those who served, plus all those who have not been painted. D Davidsohn

Politics and Presidents are touchy subjects, never more so then they currently are. So while I don't want to cross the line into the contentious, I have to be perfectly honest and say I never would have expected myself purchasing one of President Bush's books. But I watched an interview with him from Jimmy Kimmel's show while he was promoting this book, and when he mentioned that all the proceeds to to supporting causes for veterans, I said “I'm in”. Because I think supporting our vets and our troops is something that needs to cross party lines. In this book, former President Bush gives a brief narrative for why he took up painting and why he chose to focus so many on veterans in particular. The main body of the book contains the paintings and then brief vignettes about the individuals in each painting. He closes the book with some ideas that everyone can do to educate themselves about challenges veterans face when they come home and ways the we can stand by them as they navigate those challenges. I bought the kindle book, and it was super well linked. Each individual service member has their own link to their section. Reading the way President Bush writes about these service men actually gave me a new and expanded perspective on him, it is very evident in the way he writes that he does care about their causes and is touched by them personally and as individuals. He mentions in the book that he's a novice, and he's not sure how people will receive his works. I read a piece a couple years back by some artists and critics who weren't very flattering in their assessments, so I imagine he's already been exposed to some of that. Look, it's hard to put yourself out there with artwork, it's so subjective and based on personal tastes and preferences. What one person loves another loathes. I took a drawing class in college and got a B on a project...the professor's only reason was she hated my subject matter, thought it wasn't mature enough, the thrust of her criticism was not about my technique. That's how the world of art goes. Highly opinionated. I think it's true that President Bush's former occupation has given him a platform for public success in his artistic endeavors that many artists don't have, so he has not had to rely strictly on how appealing his works are to others. And yet, while the style he uses isn't my personal favorite, I do think his portraits convey emotion and give a sense of the personalities of the individuals he's painting, and in my mind, that's what makes a work successful...if it can evoke or convey emotion and expression. So overall, I think this is a well done, well written book that promotes a good cause and I find it to be an interesting and worthwhile read.

I preface this Amazon review by admitting that I actually pre-ordered this kindlebook of Portraits of Courage; A Commander’s Tribute to America’s Warriors by George W. Bush with Laura Bush and Peter Pace credited in the forewords on Saturday October 8, 2016 due to my military themed interests pertaining to movies, books etc. stemming from the time I served in the navy. This was well after I had already had my mind made up on voting for Hillary Clinton and following through with voting for her on my birthday, which was also on election day certain that her victory was secured. My point; I try to avoid letting my personal politics indirectly color whether I look at writings andor creative work from men andor women from other sides of the political aisle as I believe maturely being open and considering viewpoints different from my own expands my understanding and wisdom of the world both around me and outside of me. Even then, I was working on being more courageous in various areas of my life and both the title and the feature that various current and former members of the military were going to be featured in this kindlebook caught my attention. With that out of the way, the following are some of the features of this kindlebook for those who are still deciding on purchasing this kindlebook; artistic portrait of Christopher Self a sergeant major who served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1984-1986 and U.S. Army from 1986 to 2013, Master Seargant Scott Neil who served in the U.S. Army from 1986 to 2010, Master Sergeant Roque Urena who served in the U.S. Airforce from 1983 to 2008, Leslie Zimmerman who served in the U.S. Army from 2001-2004, Chris Goehner who was in the navy from 2003 to 2006, and more people who have been affiliated with the military. I also liked that stories were included to get an idea of why they may appear the way they do in their artistic portraits.

bought for grandson he likes it

This book is very high quality. Every part of this book indicates quality: the images, the print, the paper, the binding.

Der ehemalige US-Präsident widmet sich hier Veteranen des Irak-Krieges, den er selbst zu verantworten hat. Er investiert viel Energie in Charity-Projekte für Kriegsveteranen und beteiligt sich aktiv an Veranstaltungen. Immerhin leugnet er nicht großmäulig seine Schuld und Verstrickung, wie manch anderer, sondern versucht, zumindest etwas wieder gut zu machen. Zu jedem Portrait findet sich eine Beschreibung der dargestellten Person, deren Verletzungen und wie sie damit umgeht. Zu einigen gibt es auch persönliche Zitate. So kommt eine beeindruckende Sammlung unterschiedlichster Persönlichkeiten zustande, manche weiter vom Krieg überzeugt, manche zu Pazifisten geworden. Künstlerisch hat Bush sich sehr stark weiterentwickelt. Die Portraits sind ausdrucksstark und spiegeln mit groben Strichen Emotionen und Charaktere wider. Bush hat offenkundig großes Talent. Beim Betrachten spürt man seine Empathie und sieht, dass er in der Lage ist, das Wesentliche einer Persönlichkeit scheinbar mühelos herauszuarbeiten. Die Einnahmen gehen nicht an den Künstler, sondern an das Bush Presidential Center, das sich der Wiedereingliederung von Veteranen ins zivile Leben widmet. So kann man das Buch guten Gewissens kaufen. Durchgehend farbige Bilder auf hochwertigem Papier, Texte in englischer Sprache.

I am no GW fan but I think his painting is very sweet. I give him kudos for putting himself out there as he’s not trained. And, he paints veterans.

A lovely tribute to those who have sacrificed so very much. The actual life experiences combined with the beautiful portraits are very moving