Former President George W. Bush was never known as a man of letters. Even Karl Rove was hard pressed to lie about his reading competitions with W, who was memorably captured reading the picture book The Pet Goat on the morning of 9/11. As the George W. Bush Presidential Library takes shape at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, it shouldn't be a surprise that artifacts, not books, will take center stage.
The prize of the $200 million library, according to the Guardian, is a 9mm Glock once owned by Saddam Hussein, who had it in his possession when he was captured by U.S. forces in Tikrit. (Clearly, he was planning to attack the US with this gun.) The library will contain 25 special exhibits related to the Bush presidency within a design by Robert A. M. Stern, responsible for designing 15 Central Park West, Madonna's building, in New York.]]>