My Life
by Bill Clinton
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Book Reviews of My Life
Book Review: A Man and a Journey from Hope
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the great ironies of Bill Clinton's incredible life journey is that he grew up in a small Arkansas town called Hope. It was a broad manifestation of hope that energized him on an incredible highway of success resulting in two terms as president and a higher approval rating on his departure from office than even the popular Ronald Reagan. This book traces this journey in simple, straightforward prose, in the manner of a storyteller, which William Jefferson Clinton definitely is. The "good old boy" homespun Arkansan manner comes across vividly as one spirits through the pages of this moving as well as definitive memoir.Clinton moves quickly into the personal side of his life at the book's outset. He reveals about how his father died tragically in an automobile accident before he was born. He then recounts how, when he was pursuing the presidency, people who had encountered his father revealed information about him to his son. It took until his run for the presidency to become aware of fascinating facets about the man he never saw. He also recounts in vivid detail the marriage of his mother to the man who would become his father and, as a result of which he would change his name from Blythe to Clinton. The future president grew up in a household in which his mother was repeatedly beaten and verbally abused by a man who, under other circumstances, would, according to Clinton, have been thoroughly decent. Clinton recounts how inability to cope with the demon of alcohol resulted in tragedy for the entire family.
Syndicated columnist David Broder once referred to Clinton as possessing "an off the charts IQ" and his meteoric rise from a youngster growing up poor in a small rural Arkansas town to scholarships at the finest universities in the world corroborate that conclusion. An honor student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where Clinton got his first whiff of politics as an intern in the office of political legend Senator William Fulbright from Clinton's native state of Arkansas, he then moved on to prestigious Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. Following that period it was on to Yale University as a law student. That was where he met the woman he would marry, Hillary Rodham. Clinton concedes that, without Hillary Rodham Clinton operating at his side, he never would have achieved the presidency.
This fascinating memoir balances the ledger between personal details shaping the author's life experience and the important political contribution he played in the event-filled final quarter of the twentieth century. Clinton modestly concedes that being elected governor of his home state in 1978 at 32 had its downside, stemming from what he perceives as an immaturity to see political life with the kind of breadth that would only result from additional life experience. He learned from his mistakes and, after he was elected again in 1982 he never looked back thereafter, winning succeeding governor's races until throwing his hat into the ring for the presidency in 1992. It was a bold stroke for a governor from a small state to enter the fray at that time, during a period when incumbent George Herbert Walker Bush had scaled a heady 91 percent approval rating in the wake of America's victory over Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War.
Details from Clinton's personal life threatened to do in his candidacy as he fought tenaciously in the New Hampshire primary to stay in the fray and fight longer for the grand prize he would ultimately achieve. As Republican adversaries would later acknowledge, "Bill Clinton is a guy who can take a punch." Clinton tenaciously fought his way through negative media coverage about his personal life to initially achieve the Democratic nomination, then the presidency itself. His triumph over travail resulted in him earning the nickname "the comeback kid".
Clinton discusses his worst moment in the White House, when he was compelled to tell Hillary about the affair he had engaged in with Monica Lewinsky prior to testifying before Kenneth Starr's grand jury. He acknowledges that he took advantage of a situation simply because it was there and should have resisted temptation. He states that Kenneth Starr was part of a Clinton-hating strategy unfurled by the Republican right to destroy him. Clinton notes that Whitewater allegations bore no fruit, that it was a transaction wherein he and Hillary had lost money, and that his political enemies were eager to latch onto the Lewinsky scandal as a means of removing him from office. He considers his resistance to impeachment and ultimate victory as constituting a "badge of honor."
Bill Clinton continues to impress many while his detractors retain their sharp-edged opposition to all for which he stood. The most recent CNN poll reveals that 62 percent of his fellows Americans view Bill Clinton and his presidency favorably, impressive support coming some four years after his departure from office. As a skilled politician he stood in the ranks of FDR and John F. Kennedy. Here was a man under whose watch 22 million new jobs were created. Clinton turned around a $4 trillion national debt and left office in the midst of a healthy surplus. He resisted ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and helped broker what many deemed an impossible to achieve peace pact between Israelis and Arabs. Clinton also brought minorities more into the nation's mainstream through numerous federal appointments, many of which were in the judiciary.
Clinton's is a Horatio Alger story of a rise from poverty to the world's most powerful person. It is interesting to experience that journey through his eyes. After finishing this extraordinary voyage with him the reader is left with one conclusion - that we will be seeing much more from Bill Clinton as this extraordinary journey continues.
Book Review: An important book that could have been shorter
Summary: 3 Stars
As anyone who has been breathing for the past couple of months knows, William Jefferson Clinton's MY LIFE is more than a book. It is a news event, a slice of history, a personal testament, a work to be argued over for years to come by political partisans, most of whom will not have actually read it.
Perhaps general agreement might be possible on one point: This massive book is the most complete and wide-ranging apologia ever produced by a former American President. Its only distant competitor is U. S. Grant's autobiography --- but when you compare the scope of the two books, Clinton's emerges as much wider by a large margin. It is not simply an account of his two Presidential terms; it is a full-bore autobiography, starting with his birth on page 1 and continuing to his retirement from office and final summing up on page 957. Even as a physical object MY LIFE is daunting. On my bathroom scale the book weighed three and a half pounds.
Clinton sums himself up as "both a political animal and a policy wonk." This is a good capsule summary of the book, which is awash in lists of the programs he advocated, policies he backed in every conceivable field, foreign and domestic; speeches he delivered, and travels he undertook, leaders he dealt with from rural Arkansas bosses to foreign heads of state. The book is far too long, and one shudders to read in his acknowledgements of how much he was persuaded to leave out. The writing can be sprightly and quotable on one page, then ponderous on the next.
Is MY LIFE self-serving? Of course. This is Clinton's brief in his own defense, his chance to fire back at his numerous still-active critics. He sees himself as a moderate progressive, not radical enough for the far left and openly at war with the far right faction of the Republican Party. His scorn for the Gingrich-DeLay-Armey wing of the GOP is a major theme throughout. Perhaps the most important of his political heroes is a fellow Arkansan, Senator J. William Fulbright, legendary chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Clinton began his Washington career as a lowly clerk for that committee.
The former President is also unhappy with our national preference for political trivia over substantive news. Time and again he complains that public fascination with nonessentials kept the world from learning about things he considered important and newsworthy.
This brings us, of course, to the subject of his private life as President. Readers whose only interest is in the Monica Lewinsky affair, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Whitewater, Vincent Foster and other such titillating events will find them all here, treated with Clintonian reserve and strictly from his personal point of view. He admits to sexual wrongdoing and apologizes (rather too profusely, I feel). But these episodes are only one strand in the larger tapestry of his public career and embattled Presidency. Most of them he dismisses as partisan attempts to destroy him rather than honest investigations of questionable goings-on. Kenneth Starr in particular emerges as a kind of homegrown Javert, an unscrupulous and unprincipled tormentor rather than an honest prosecutor.
There is no point in a reviewer trying to sort this out. Every reader will have his or her own perspective. I for one am grateful, however, that these subjects do not take over and dominate the larger narrative of which they form a distasteful but certainly necessary part. Clinton's narrative of his political baptism of fire and upward rise in Arkansas, for one thing, seems far more interesting and important in the overall picture of his life. It's not sexy, certainly, but it matters more.
Clinton as a writer lacks the same thing he lacked as President: self-discipline. The level of detail in this book is staggering (remember those 80-minute-plus State of the Union speeches?). The number of names dropped is immense; we learn about the personal styles of political operators in half the small towns of Arkansas, and also those of government leaders in half the banana republics on the face of the globe. Hillary and Chelsea are there too, of course, sometimes cheering him on, sometimes putting up with him. And White House staffers, down to the level of his valets, are duly memorialized.
Clinton is no more successful than other writers have been in making the details of Washington budget battles interesting to the lay reader. The same caveat applies to some extent in international affairs; the protracted negotiations on peace in the Middle East, for example, are here at a level of detail that will certainly be of interest only to specialists.
MY LIFE is one of those books that has "Important" written all over it. It is not, however, consistently interesting because it bogs down in too much detail. It is Bill Clinton's testament, his boast and his mea culpa all at once. When you reach page 957 you know you have read something that really matters --- but you're glad it's over.
--- Reviewed by Robert Finn
Book Review: My Life by President Bill Clinton
Summary: 5 Stars
The book is written in a folksy conversational style typical
of President Clinton's speeches and television interviews.
He relates many of the early experiences in his grandfather's
store, life on the farm, best friends and the considerable
enjoyment derived from the advanced mathematics. President
Clinton has that rare dual capability to excel at both the
English language and the analytics inherent in higher math.
The former President recites the challenges of life during
law school and the tremendous cramming sessions inherent in
preparing for the many formal exams. The initial social
meetings with Mrs Clinton are depicted, as well as her unforgetable commencement address.
President Clinton was always an excellent speaker and lecturer.
The role of teacher portrays the President at his very best.
The work has many memorable pictures of his parents,
early youth and forays into politics. Simultaneously, he decried
the Vietnam War yet appreciated President Johnson's many
social programs. The book explains many of the challenges
encountered during his years of public service. The Mississippi
River Flood Relief is explained, as well as the Bosnian conflict
and the contentious dealings with the Palestinians. He described
the effort to fund 100T new teachers and to preserve the national forestry. The issue of trade with Vietnam was addressed
formally, although France had established considerable economic
relationships earlier. China's acceptance into the World Trade
Organization was another item cited by President Clinton.
The former President had a global perspective encompassing the notion of an interdependent world demanding
more than a modicum of attention by the Executive Branch.
Toward the end of the book, President Clinton described his
journey to the Presidency and beyond as "an improbable life".
By this, he meant that the laws of probability mitigated against
his rising to become President given his modest background.
The work is a fairly comprehensive rendition for posterity.
His overall assessment will be above average. Historians have
yet to sort out the details of what his involvement accomplished
in the complicated mesh of world history . This book may help
future political scientists and academicians navigate the
post Cold War period with its attendant opportunities,
uncontrollable factors and complicated transitory sequences.
His administration tackled the stabilization and balancing of the
federal budget. That alone was a considerable task which required
making very difficult choices between raising taxes, cutting
military spending or trimming social programs. None of those
tasks would be easy to accomplish politically and
President Clinton tried to balance all of them simultaneously.
While slowing the growth in federal spending, President Clinton
sought to preserve the infrastructure of social programs.
The programs were designed to preserve the safety net for the poor and to support business entities both small and large.
The former President has a facilitative personality which has
worked well in dealing both here and abroad. This book attests
to his political career logically, sequentially and in a
representative belles lettres style of writing. Some reviewers
have complained about the length . The length is appropriate
because President Clinton is reciting a story about a lifetime
of experiences. Posterity will want to know many details and it
is better for President Clinton to present his personal accounts
in place of others doing it without having first-hand knowledge.
The book is a solid investment for a wide constituency of political scientists, historians and academicians. The existence
of this work will facilitate the task of future historians
because a considerable superstructure of a life story will exist.
Historians could never recreate a document with the perspective
contained herein because the experiential aspects wouldn't be present. Since this volume exists, the job of future
historians will be facilitated greatly. The focus will shift from
a monumental research into the public records to fact checking and historical critique. Overall, the reviewers seem to support
the factual content of the work and the noted accomplishments.
The volume has added importance because President Clinton
is reciting two consecutive terms in the White House. This period
of history has relevance because newly formed democracies are
being asked to emulate democratic institutions and processes.
Logically, the most recent Presidencies will be the first place
foreign constitutional scholars may study for possible emulation
or replication.
Book Review: Deja vu
Summary: 4 Stars
As anyone who has been breathing for the past couple of months knows, William Jefferson Clinton's MY LIFE is more than a book. It is a news event, a slice of history, a personal testament, a work to be argued over for years to come by political partisans, most of whom will not have actually read it.
Perhaps general agreement might be possible on one point: This massive book is the most complete and wide-ranging apologia ever produced by a former American President. Its only distant competitor is U. S. Grant's autobiography --- but when you compare the scope of the two books, Clinton's emerges as much wider by a large margin. It is not simply an account of his two Presidential terms; it is a full-bore autobiography, starting with his birth on page 1 and continuing to his retirement from office and final summing up on page 957. Even as a physical object MY LIFE is daunting. On my bathroom scale the book weighed three and a half pounds.
Clinton sums himself up as "both a political animal and a policy wonk." This is a good capsule summary of the book, which is awash in lists of the programs he advocated, policies he backed in every conceivable field, foreign and domestic; speeches he delivered, and travels he undertook, leaders he dealt with from rural Arkansas bosses to foreign heads of state. The book is far too long, and one shudders to read in his acknowledgements of how much he was persuaded to leave out. The writing can be sprightly and quotable on one page, then ponderous on the next.
Is MY LIFE self-serving? Of course. This is Clinton's brief in his own defense, his chance to fire back at his numerous still-active critics. He sees himself as a moderate progressive, not radical enough for the far left and openly at war with the far right faction of the Republican Party. His scorn for the Gingrich-DeLay-Armey wing of the GOP is a major theme throughout. Perhaps the most important of his political heroes is a fellow Arkansan, Senator J. William Fulbright, legendary chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Clinton began his Washington career as a lowly clerk for that committee.
The former President is also unhappy with our national preference for political trivia over substantive news. Time and again he complains that public fascination with nonessentials kept the world from learning about things he considered important and newsworthy.
This brings us, of course, to the subject of his private life as President. Readers whose only interest is in the Monica Lewinsky affair, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Whitewater, Vincent Foster and other such titillating events will find them all here, treated with Clintonian reserve and strictly from his personal point of view. He admits to sexual wrongdoing and apologizes (rather too profusely, I feel). But these episodes are only one strand in the larger tapestry of his public career and embattled Presidency. Most of them he dismisses as partisan attempts to destroy him rather than honest investigations of questionable goings-on. Kenneth Starr in particular emerges as a kind of homegrown Javert, an unscrupulous and unprincipled tormentor rather than an honest prosecutor.
There is no point in a reviewer trying to sort this out. Every reader will have his or her own perspective. I for one am grateful, however, that these subjects do not take over and dominate the larger narrative of which they form a distasteful but certainly necessary part. Clinton's narrative of his political baptism of fire and upward rise in Arkansas, for one thing, seems far more interesting and important in the overall picture of his life. It's not sexy, certainly, but it matters more.
Clinton as a writer lacks the same thing he lacked as President: self-discipline. The level of detail in this book is staggering (remember those 80-minute-plus State of the Union speeches?). The number of names dropped is immense; we learn about the personal styles of political operators in half the small towns of Arkansas, and also those of government leaders in half the banana republics on the face of the globe. Hillary and Chelsea are there too, of course, sometimes cheering him on, sometimes putting up with him. And White House staffers, down to the level of his valets, are duly memorialized.
Clinton is no more successful than other writers have been in making the details of Washington budget battles interesting to the lay reader. The same caveat applies to some extent in international affairs; the protracted negotiations on peace in the Middle East, for example, are here at a level of detail that will certainly be of interest only to specialists.
MY LIFE is one of those books that has "Important" written all over it. It is not, however, consistently interesting because it bogs down in too much detail. It is Bill Clinton's testament, his boast and his mea culpa all at once. When you reach page 957 you know you have read something that really matters --- but you're glad it's over.
Book Review: America's First Black President
Summary: 5 Stars
In his book, `My Life', Bill Clinton sets out to tell his story - a very human story - of the joys and sorrows, dreams and fears, triumphs and failures of eight years as President, and half a lifetime in politics. True to form, he tells a compelling story - rather long, but still compelling.
Clinton, who was famously referred to by Toni Morrison as "America's first Black President" takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through both his political and very personal life - a very `black' thing to do. Detailing his biggest political regret (failing to stop Rwanda's tragedies); worst political decision (appointing a special prosecutor for the Whitewater investigations); happiest moments (the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in Ireland), and saddest moment (telling Hilary the truth about Monica); he reflects on his life in a personal human way that is more akin to ethnic communities which are more accepting of the complexities of human existence - both of its achievements and frailties.
He starts the book as he means to continue: at an engaging, detailed and ambitious pace. He wants the reader to share in his tumultuous upbringing. By the time, he has told you about his family, his years as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, years as a lecturer at Arkansas University and marriage to Hillary, you have ploughed through 230 pages of this mammoth biography. If one buys the book for the Monica Lewinsky scandal, one has a long way to go - Monica makes an entry on page 773.
The books early undoing is its detailed reference to everyone Bill knows. He wants to share all his personal experiences with the reader. In part, its because he recognizes that he is probably the only person ever elected President who owed his election purely to his personal friends, without whom he could never have won. When he was elected, Clinton was not only the third youngest in history, not only the second governor of a small state `carrying more baggage than an ocean liner'; he also had the lowest net worth of an American President in recent history.
In terms of foreign policy, My life is the political equivalent of a Robert Ludlum spy thriller. Taking the reader on a detailed account of the behind the scenes encounters with protagonists of the Middle East crisis, North Korea nuclear threat, Iraq conflict, and Northern Ireland peace process, Clinton illuminates the marathon biography with revealing personal encounters with Yasser Arafat, Gerry Adams, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak and Fidel Castro (the First American President to shake Castro's hand in forty years).
However, to complain about the level of detail in his book, is to miss the very essence of quintessential Bill Clinton, and his objective in writing the book. He wants you to remember him for eliminating the deficit in 1993 (the first time since 1969); for adding more than twenty million new jobs during his eight ears in office, and for leaving office with the economy enjoying the lowest unemployment rate and small welfare rolls in thirty years. He wants to share with the reader the details of the three consecutive surpluses for the first time in more than fifty years, and the lowest poverty rate in twenty years - the longest economic expansion in American history. He spares no details in how he achieved these figures.
The book is literally a systematic account of the people involved, the arguments they advanced, and how his detractors tried to stop him. Clinton does not want the reader to merely read a summary of the issue and the outcome of the process. Like Clinton, the reader must engage in the detailed policy detail that that he was famously know for mastering. If you are a US domestic and foreign policy wonk, you will enjoy this book.
To his credit, however, Clinton does not dedicate the book solely to gloating over the economic successes of the 1990's. Rather, he uses it to reflect the struggle of a president whose acknowledged intellectual brilliance he has repeatedly marred with reckless abandon. A President whom the New York Times once editorialized as "a politician with great natural talent and some significant accomplishments who has missed the greatness that once seemed within his grasp." With candor, he acknowledges his mistakes, the resulting public humiliation, and the pain to his family, especially Hillary. It is a struggle that, as one reaches page 953, one realizes, is still ongoing. The amount of energy exerted in his term of office, is unlikely to quickly diminish now that he is, after eight years as President, and half a lifetime in politics, a private citizen again.