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“American Oligarchs”, by Andrea Bernstein, is exactly what it’s subtitle says it is. It’s the story of the Kushner and Trump families, and the marriage that brought them together. Bernstein does a superb job at writing a book that basically gives the families’ histories without too much silent sighing-at-what’s going on with these people? Neither family is on the up-and-up, though the Kushners may be (may be) slightly less heinous than the Trumps. Charlie Kushner’s still on his first wife, and that family should be commended for surviving the Holocaust and making the most the “Goldene Medina” they found here in postWW2 America.

There’s not much new in Bernstein’s book about the Trumps. The usual rumors about how money was made are there and the writing is pretty non-sensational. (Given what it could be...) Most readers of the book will read it for the Kushner parts because they’re actually the most interesting. Ol’ Charlie might still be on Wife #1, but I wonder if she chose to visit him in jail when he was there for blackmailing his sister and brother in law? Picture a crime including a prostitute, a hot-sheet hotel in rural New Jersey, and photographs. At this attempt at extortion of his nearest-and-dearest, Kushner spent 2 years in an Air Force base lockup in Alabama. His son, Jared, visited him every weekend for his term. I guess family Thanksgivings aren’t overly congenial in the Kushner family...

At any rate, Andrea Bernstein’s book is filled with little gems like Charlie’s attempt at extortion and why the Kushners aren’t exactly best buds with Chris Christie...

I really enjoyed Bernstein’s book. It was well written and filled with juicy goings on by repulsive people. Just my favorite type of book.

Andrea Bernstein has written a book that starts off like a great historical saga and segues into an extremely well written expose’ about the Kushner and Trump families. Once the riveting history is told, the focus, of course, is on all the myriad of evil done by every member of each family, real or imagined.

After such a stunning start, I had high hopes the balance of the book would continue sans deliberate bias. Failure to include positive actions from the featured family members is just painting an incorrect picture. Sure, bad stuff happened. Was it ALL bad? We’re THEY all bad? Nobody did anything good worth noting? When a reporter makes no effort to show both sides of a story or issue, I wonder about the integrity of the reporter. 100% is a trendy expression. It has little meaning, in reality.

The term “oligarch” - a member of an oligarchy - a small group that has control of a country, organization or institution.
When I first saw the title of this book, I was put off and expected to hate it. That’s not what happened because it started out so incredibly well. The editing and publishing are wonderful, as well. Then I began to consider that word, oligarch, and I remembered a time long ago; a time that’s been romanticized into “Camelot”. If ever there was an “American Oligarch”, those families were the members and that was the time📚



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