Bush White House alumni, prominent Republicans highlight spring book list

Laura Bush, Henry Paulson, Mitt Romney and Karl Rove are among the big political names with books coming out in Spring 2010.

The former first lady’s memoir, “Spoken from the Heart,” will be published by Scribner on May 4. The publisher declined to give any details but it will presumably cover her husband’s political career and their time in the White House. Former President George W. Bush has signed a book deal with Crown, but a publication date hasn’t been scheduled.

{mosads}Former Treasury Secretary Paulson will give his account of the economic collapse in “On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System,” set to be published Feb. 1 from Business Plus.

In the book Paulson “puts the reader in the room for all the intense moments as he addressed urgent market conditions, weighed critical decisions, and debated policy and economic considerations with of all the notable players — including the CEOs of top Wall Street firms as well as Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Sheila Bair, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, and then-President George W. Bush,” according to a summary.

Romney, a 2008 White House contender who’s also considering a 2012 run, will release “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness” on March 2. Published by St. Martin’s Press, the book will offer “simple solutions to rebuild industry, create good jobs, reduce out of control spending on entitlements and healthcare, dramatically improve education, and restore a military battered by eight years of war,” according to a summary.

The former Massachusetts governor is expected to make the press rounds to promote his tome, including a scheduled March 5 luncheon at the National Press Club.

Rove’s “Courage and Consequences” will be released a few day’s after Romney’s book, on March 9. The memoir will recount Rove’s life in politics and his friendship with former President George W. Bush.

Threshold Publications is publishing Rove’s book. The company also has signed former Vice President Dick Cheney to write a memoir. But Cheney’s book isn’t set to be published until 2011. Former Bush adviser Mary Matalin is Threshold’s editor-in-chief.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) has “Notes from a Country Lawyer” coming out on May 11. The memoir from Crown Publishing will trace Thompson’s rise from a young lawyer to actor and senator.

Other books for political junkies to keep an eye for:

• Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s book, “Right Now: A Twelve Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda,” comes out on Jan. 4 from D.C.-based Regnery Publishing.
• George Obama, the half-brother of President Barack Obama, releases his memoir “Homeland: An Extraordinary Story of Hope and Survival” on Jan. 5 from Simon & Schuster. George Obama has only met his older half-brother twice (the two men share the same father) and lives in a Nairobi ghetto, where he runs a community group.
• Political strategist Douglas Schoen talks about where modern politics have gone wrong in “The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from Grass Roots to the White House” (Times Books, Jan. 5).
• Former Huffington Post contributor and Clinton White House intern Stacy Parker Aab chronicles the life of a young woman in Washington in “Government Girl” (Ecco Trade Paperback, Jan. 19).
• Former Harvard Professor Derek Bok examines “The Politics of Happiness” (Princeton University Press, Feb. 4).
• Ken Gormley relives the impeachment scandal in “Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr” (Crown Publishing, Feb. 16). Gormley spoke with former President Bill Clinton, Ken Starr, Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, Susan McDougal and many others to get their reflections on that time period.
• John Kiriakou, a senior investigator on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and former CIA analyst, talks about life in the agency in “The Reluctant Spy” (Bantam, March 16). He also writes describes how the White House made plans to invade Iraq a full year before the CIA knew about it — or could attempt to stop it.
• David Farber traces “The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism” through the eyes of Robert Taft, William F. Buckley Jr., Barry Goldwater, Phyllis Schlafly, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush (Princeton University Press, April 21).
• Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter examines the first year of the Obama presidency in “The Promise,” which is scheduled to be published by Simon & Schuster in May.