Cronies By Robert Bryce BBS PublicAffairs Publishers 327 pps. $26

Sitting presidents always generate their fair share of ink. Still, saying that the books-on-Bush cottage industry kicks out new titles daily may be an exaggeration -- but only just.

Whatever their individual merits, these kinds of tomes on Dubya's antics are all hamstrung in two ways. First, they will soon, perhaps within months, appear as irrelevant and dated as back issues of the Quayle Quarterly. Second, they typically just preach to their respective choirs, portraying Bush as either the second human being to walk on water or Barney Fife with a boulder on his shoulder. Then again, this schizophrenic perspective isn't really that surprising, considering that George Walker Bush is one of the most polarizing U.S. presidents ever.

Robert Bryce's Cronies falls within the Bush-bashing category and as such will surely piss off (or be ignored by) the Bush brigade. That's a shame, since the book is markedly different from other negative portrayals of Dubya in several ways, and it relays a fascinating, if upsetting, tale of modern American history and democracy.

For one thing, Cronies contains little of the annoying satiric humor favored by the likes of Molly Ivins and Michael Moore. And though he occasionally indulges in soapbox rants, the author keeps his frothings to a minimum. Renowned investigative reporter Bryce (co-author with Ivins of 2002's Pipe Dreams, a look into Enron's self-destruction) instead lets the facts speak for themselves. In style, Cronies more closely resembles Kevin Phillips' excellent, thorough American Dynasty than Slate magazine's admittedly sophomoric Bushisms.

Nor does Bryce lay sole blame on the Republicans for our nation's current state of disarray: He also holds Lyndon Johnson and Jim Wright partly responsible. Bryce even compares LBJ's questionable 1948 senate victory to the 2000 presidential election.

Further, many of the well-known charges leveled against Bush -- that he used drugs freely, avoided serving in Vietnam by hiding out in the National Guard, and seems to bear some sort of personal grudge against the environment -- receive little or no coverage. Even 9-11 gets only cursory mention. Bryce clearly has bigger fish to fry. And they're oily ones.

Special interests, old-boy networks, and black gold, according to Bryce, have been mixed together by Bush into a bilious cocktail that may forever infect the American political system. Bryce's description of how a privileged few have managed to insulate and enrich themselves through giving and receiving favors is what makes Cronies compelling and profound.

Texas is Bryce's biggest target. Since we once supplied most of America's oil and now have more interests in the Persian Gulf region than any other state, Bryce concludes that Texas largely runs the rest of the country -- and like a self-serving fat cat at that. While this may not be a wholly fair assertion, it's one that's hard to contradict once Bryce lays out the facts.

Bryce recounts how the Texas Railroad Commission -- through monopolistic control of oil production, distribution, and pricing -- basically functioned as a cartel. And how a young Arab, Abdullah Tariki (the first Saudi to enroll at the University of Texas), took that very model of business home to the Mid-East to create OPEC.

Also on Bryce's list of targets is the oil depletion allowance, a humongous tax break that allowed so many Texas oilmen to get so rich so fast. It was so well-guarded by so many properly greased politicians that when Leland Olds, a Harry Truman appointee, dared question its benefit to the American people, he was branded a Communist by LBJ.

From there, it's a simple leap to today and Halliburton, its subsidiary Brown & Root, Houston's Baker Botts law firm, and many other Texas-based companies that have moved from performing government work-for-hire projects to essentially dictating American domestic and foreign policy.

Bryce argues, rather convincingly, that the Iraq wars indeed have been all about the oil. He also thoroughly, but in easily comprehensible prose, covers such complex topics as the savings and loan bailout under the Reagan administration, Dubya's purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball team, and his swept-under-the-rug Harkin Energy insider trading scandal, which from the evidence Bryce provides seems at least as damning as the stacks of paper against Martha Stewart. And, just for fun, Bryce also questions how Dick Cheney, a man who knew nothing about oil drilling or complex construction projects when he was hired by Halliburton, became the company's CEO.

Love or hate Bush, Cronies makes you wonder just how democratic our system of government really is. The book strongly suggests that allowing our great country to be run by men whose only concern is fattening their wallets may not be in our best interest.