My Life
by Bill Clinton
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Book Reviews of My Life
Book Review: The most interesting president of the 20th century
Summary: 4 Stars
I am almost 69 years old, and have been a student of all of the presidents of my lifetime, starting with FDR and going to GWB. I have known Bill and Hillary Clinton personally since they both moved to Fayetteville to teach at the University of Arkansas Law School in the early 70s. I met Hillary first as her physician and she soon introduced me to her then boyfriend, Bill. My wife and I became good friends with Bill and Hillary and strong supporters for his political campaigns over the years. I became very angry with Bill in one of his last races for Governor of Arkansas because of what I perceived as a weakness on the abortion issue when I knew that he was a strong supporter of abortion rights. We had some harsh writen words about what I considered his failure to live by his beliefs on the issue and his failure to recognize that he would never be able to gain access to any significant support from the religious right on this issue and I felt that he was abandoning his beliefs in a failed attempt to perhaps gain an extremely few possible votes by not supporting a friend. (Me. I was then a practicing ob-gyn providing abortions, which I considered was an extremely important part of my practice - for which I was receiving heavy attacks from the radical prolifers in our state.) I finally came to the conclusion that I had never demanded perfection from myself, and thus how could I expect it of my friends. And Bill Clinton once again became one of my political heroes, but in a much more realistic way.
MY LIFE is an extrodinary piece of work, starting with his childhood as the fatherless child of a widowed mother whose courage, strength, energy, constant opptimisum never laided - at least never that her son knew - and continuing through his life in the care of his grandparents who ran a small grocery in a mostly black neighborhood of Hope, Arkansas, and then his school years in Hot Springs where, as well as in Hope, he developed friendships that have lasted for all of his life. Perhaps one of the most remarkable things about this book is the science of family, community and fellowship that it expresses. My wife and I were lucky enough to be among the few extremely close friends, family members and invited guests at Bill and Hillary's small wedding, although we neither one realised at the time what an honor they had bestowed upon on us. Bill Clinton and Hillary are two of the most compelling public figures of any century, and the enemies he and she have attracted, express much more about themselves than they say about this extordinary couple. MY LIFE is an unequalled gift of a truly amazing life - its both amazing successes and excusitely painful failures, a story of loving friends and family members lost; about the unbelievably borish, arrogant, and essentially treasonous political enemies he accumulated. And perhaps the most amazing thing in the book, is the almost endless ability that it demonstrates of a man's determination to continue his work under vicious attacks by those who's only goal was to destroy him with no regard for how many innocent people were hurt, or for the lives that were destroyed.
I am so proud to have known Bill and Hillary Clinton and their families and some of their friends; and to have been their friend for a few short years wen I and they were much younger; to have had the opportunity to read this book, which outlines snd showcases some of the most extraordinary persons and events in U.S. history. You go, Bill and Hillary. You both have given already an almost unsurpassed contribution to our nation's history, which will obviously judge you with a much more reasoned and rationnal mind than the idiots who have hated you, seemingly for no more reason Christ was hated - you aspired to, and tried to, make our world a better place.
Of course, Bill Clinton, unlike the reportedly perfect Christ was not perfect. He was and is a human being, with a human being's weaknesses and flaws, exposed to far greater challenges and fatal, sinful attractions than most of us will ever face. But he never made the mistake of seeking power solely for powers rewards. And it turns out that his sin was much more human and forgivable than any of the wicked and venomous efforts of those so anxious to pursue him to the ends of the earth, like the madly possessed detective in Victor Hugo's masterpiece.
I wish I could come back in fifty or so years, to see what history has to say about Bill Clinton and his book. I don't believe that he has anything to worry about, and I suspect this is simply one more thing that makes some of his reviewers so furious. wfh
Book Review: Adversity is the Father of Character
Summary: 5 Stars
Before reading the first page, my view of Clinton was one of begrudging admiration for a record of improving the lives of human beings-begrudging because I viewed him as a wily, womanizing politician who never failed to indulge his personal proclivities for base pleasure (a blanket view that I have cynically and indiscriminately extended to politicians generally for most of my adult life). My reaction, after the first few pages, was that Clinton simply isn't the engaging writer that Jimmy Carter is. "Plodding but very decent" was the comment Clinton's university professor wrote on his student essay. That's a valid summary of Clinton's writing style, yet it falls short of describing the book's underlying charisma. One hundred pages into the 900 pages of text, I gave into a fascination with the complex nature of the presidency, how he came to it, and how he chose to fulfill its duties.
Having watched the two major Clinton book-tour interviews that were broadcast on Australian television, I saw that he writes the way he speaks, with an introspective sort of enthusiasm, not wanting to leave out any detail or fail to mention the names of people he feels deserve recognition. It is both name dropping and reverse name dropping, as he creates a historical record of connections.
Clinton's natural gift for politics and understanding of its rightful position of importance in the evolution of human consciousness exposed to me my own woeful lack of political grace and what losses can be suffered for failing to accept its validity in a life well lived. He offers an insider's view of politics in both its most positive and most negative manifestations, while painting a portrait, layer upon hidden layer, of a man who was born with the drive for a public life. I could not fail to be impressed with his political genius and accomplishments in the world of peace negotiations and awed by the daily parade of major and minor decisions that face a head of state.
The prodigious adversity of Clinton's eight years in the White House was the making of the man, the making of a legend, and may well be the ultimate undoing of the forces who opposed him with highly personal, self-gratifying animosity. He has emerged, in the eyes of most the world, a personal and public success, a model of the flawed but persistent integrity of a Good Man, due in no small part to the likes of Ken Starr and others who paraded the self-indulgent lust of a middle-aged man for dreamy-eyed girls in blue dresses as a camouflage to their own coming into rut for high position and dreams of victory for their General-Bullmoose political policies. Had the path been smoother, the man may not have been so great or so good.
As a pleasure read, the book is too long, has too many names and dates, and reads a bit like an academic paper-a "plodding but very decent" one. That having been said, Clinton has done a fine job of documenting his view of history while keeping it within the reach of the average reader. It is difficult to imagine that his successful combination of historical record and view into the personal, day-to-day experience of being President of the United States could have been accomplished in fewer pages. Nonetheless, as no doubt many other readers did, I daintily skimmed the surface of much of the minutiae, knowing that I could return at some later time, consult the index, and reread key passages. Yes, an index! A glorious index.
This is not just a document for future scholars of the Clinton presidency; he offers views of all the major political figures of his time, from snapshots to mini-series. Scholars of the personal and public lives of many of the important political figures of the latter half of the twentieth century will find Clinton's observations a valuable addition to their other resources. Typical of his succinct political summaries was his statement that McClellan "thought politics was about money and power" and Fulbright "thought politics was about the power of ideas"-one among many of his personal viewpoints offered, but isn't that what all historical analyses are?
I began the book with a one-dimensional view of an American politician (all of whom I have seen as cast in the Huey Long mold) and completed the book seeing his presidency as an expression of natural political genius and a personal struggle for a high level of integrity, played out against a backdrop of flawless humanity as manifested in a typically flawed life. I have abandoned my pride in my ineptitude as a political animal and now aspire to improve my skills in this formerly despised arena of human interaction.
Book Review: An important road-map for America
Summary: 5 Stars
I've just read review #40 out of 367 reviews, and thought I would go ahead and write what I think before I get distracted by more reviews. I was fascinated by this book. This is not a novel or a historical textbook or an expose. This is a memoir, written closely after the events it describes. As such it has more details than a more removed treatment would have. I think the book is intelligent, thoughtful and descriptive. It takes me through events of the last 50-odd years and ties them together from an interesting prospective. If you like that kind of book, you will enjoy this. What I mostly took away from this book was: 1) a sense of the frustration Mr. Clinton felt at the press coverage of his presidency. He talked about what policies he was pursuing that got little or no coverage because the media was focused on "Whitewater World" (I loved that phrase), and the ensuing sex scandal. I think one main reason he wrote this book was to say to us, the American People, this is what I was actually doing as your public servant that you didn't get told about. Although Mr. Clinton never says this, I would go on to say this has much to do with the corporate ownership of our news sources. I very much appreciated him taking this venue to tell us now.
2) A very clear picture of his attempt to follow "the Third Way" (neither "liberal" nor "conservative"} and to create a plan for our country that was not purely defensive to one side or the other.
3) an interesting sense of how public office, particularly the presidency, works. Of course there isn't time to give a complete picture, but I did get a sense of the types interests, crises, power-struggles, and personal moments that one has to balance to live a life like that. I felt more connected to the Presidency as an office, and find myself more interested in the nightly news now.
4) I am a liberal democrat and agree very much with most of Mr. Clinton's policies, priorities, and world view. His book reinforces that for me. It also helped to hear his understanding of (and anger about) the upsurge of the Far Right, and contrasting them to other (more old school) Republicans, including even Nixon. It helped me to be able to take apart the monolithic block of "Republicans" and see the different strands of thought. It would have helped me more at the time of the impeachment trial if the Republicans didn't vote so solidly as a block, but there were a few lights in the darkness.
5) I was terrified reading about Kenneth Star (and was terrified by him at the time) and the office of Special Prosecutor run wild. I was also heart-broken that Mr. Clinton didn't have the foresight to avoid signing the papers authorizing the office, but I admired Mr. Clinton explaining how this happened, as I admired his admissions of other mistakes he made. To me, this was about de-mystifying politics, and heros/villians. He is human and his mistakes help me understand more about humanity and how power works.
6) I am grateful to have a picture of how we got from there to here, and for the gift of a "road-map" vision of what could be possible for our country, from someone who knows more than most about realistically how the democratic process works. I have felt a lot of despair in recent years about the direction of our country, and this book gives me a lot of hope. I loved how he pulled the impeachment clash out of the mucky details (without disavowing them) and put it in perspective as the upheavals in trying to deal with the huge changes that the internet and globalization are having on the world - and how many (most) react with fear and want to go back to when it was "safe." In the Epilogue, Mr. Clinton gives us 5 things that the U.S. should be ding to lead the way. If you read nothing else, read that (though it rests better on the weight of what he's said before this.)
7) I appreciate him sharing his early life with us. I know a lot about the dynamics of alcoholism, and his story rang very true. I also understood about the "parallel lives" he describes, and how that can play out in self-destructive ways, but how it developes in the first place.
8) I get a huge kick out of Michael Moore's approach towards exposing hypocrisy and he's an important voice, but Mr. Clinton's approach is just as valid, if not more, and has more meat and workability.
I must say I think we were very luck to have Bill Clinton as our president and I hope we can do as well again sometime soon.
A VERY IMPORTANT READ!
Book Review: Clealy a work of fiction ....
Summary: 1 Stars
Monica Lewinsky (Genifer Flowers and Paula Jones as well) beg to differ with the tales Clinton spins in this book and be watching the news for just how much they beg to differ ...The former White House intern scorned Bill Clinton's explanation that he had an affair with her "just because I could," and accused the former president of failing to correct the record and make clear their relationship was mutual in his new memoir.
In her first public comments on the book, "My Life," Lewinsky accused Clinton of trying to destroy her with his characterization of the affair as something dirty and wrong, and argued the liaison was one of mutual affection.
"I really didn't expect him to go into detail about our relationship" in the book, the 30-year-old Lewinsky said in an interview with The Daily Mail.
"But if he had and he'd done it honestly, I wouldn't have minded. ... I did, though, at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the presidency."
"Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert," she was quoted as saying.
In an interview with Independent Television News broadcast Friday, Lewinsky said she was especially upset by Clinton's assertion on CBS' "60 Minutes" that he embarked on the affair "for the worst possible reason. Just because I could."
"I was really upset when I first heard it," Lewinsky said.
Clinton, in an interview Thursday on CNN's "Larry King Live," said he realized the comment could sound harsh but that it was not intended to offend Lewinsky.
"When I say I did it because I could, if you take it out of context it sounds jolting and snipping and arrogant and unfeeling toward Monica Lewinsky or my family," he said, according to a CNN transcript.
"That is not what I meant ... Anybody who's lived a certain time has made some mistakes. If you look back on your life and you think about the things that you did wrong that you knew at the time you shouldn't do, about the best explanation is you did it because you could. Not just in this context - in many contexts."
Lewinsky said she had spent the past several years trying to "move on" and build a life.
"It has been so difficult because of so many of the lies that he has told about me and about what happened," she told ITN.
"I can understand someone wanting to save his presidency. But I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character, which not only affected me, but my family, my friends and my future."
Lewinsky noted that when prosecutors began pressuring her about her affair with the president, she was the same age his 24-year-old daughter, Chelsea, is now.
"How would he feel if (Chelsea) was trashed by the person she had had the relationship with - a person who has denied it to save himself - if she was called a liar, a stalker, crazy, stupid?" the Daily Mail quoted Lewinsky as saying.
She said Clinton, 57, has tried to rewrite history in his book.
"Having read some accounts of what was in this book, I was already disappointed, but curious," she said. "Probably still a bit naive, thinking, well, maybe there's a surprise, maybe he'll be a different, more mature person than what we have seen in the past few days. But I was wrong," she told ITN.
"I really didn't expect him to talk in detail about the relationship, because he is a married man and he has worked hard to stay married and it would be inappropriate, I think, to discuss the details.
"But what I was hoping, and did expect, was for him to acknowledge and correct the inaccurate and false statements that he, his staff and the DNC (Democratic National Committee) made about me when they were trying to protect the presidency. His strategy to try and defeat (former special prosecutor) Ken Starr was to debase my character."
"In the process he destroyed me."
Lewinsky said her relationship with Clinton had been mutual, "from the way it started, all the way through."
"My memories of it were much more positive. I think that I had enjoyed someone being so happy to see me, and certainly the gifts that were exchanged were touching."
The broadcaster declined to comment when asked whether it had paid Lewinsky for the interview. The Daily Mail did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press.
Book Review: perhaps the most unforgettable president in history
Summary: 3 Stars
I don't hate Clinton. There's a part of me that dislikes him, a part of me that pities him, and a part of me that likes him. Yes, there's a part of me that likes this guy. I'm sure he'd be fun to hang out with, especially if I were the same age. Whatever you think of him, there is no denying he's an exceptionally interesting perosnality, and was perhaps the most skillful and deftly cunning politician of our times. In comparison, George Dubya is a total lightweight midget, a mere clueless puppet of his political advisors and Cheney. But Clinton, he really knew his stuff and had the profound knowledge and masterful skill... the unfortunate thing for him is that those who hate him too often believe he stood for the wrong things, and those who love him too often believe he didn't do enough with the 8 years he had. I'm glad I read this book. It doesn't appear to be ghost-written like so many other celebrity books. The first part of the book has a lot of info on the man that I didn't know. Altogether, the memoir is almost a thousand pages long, only really like 15 pages on Monica. Clinton's opponents would call it a feeble and very transparent attempt for him to clean up his image. There's very little sex, so some readers will call it uninteresting; but if Clinton had put more sex in, others would criticize him for pornography. Half of the book doesn't even cover his presidency, just his rather typical mundane bureaucratic pre-presidency life. Hilary is hardly mentioned. My favorite part though is later on where he talks about that vast right-wing conspiracy panty-raid witch-hunter Ken Starr and how he tried to get me but couldnt (haha!), I survived the impeachment and got away with purjury and obstruction scott-free thanks to my cunning, I consider it my "badge of honor"; I'm a little flawed but otherwise I'm a wonderful exceptional human being, look what I am, look what I've done , me, me, me. Conservatives will find some of the supposed lies or half-truths nauseating, along with other incidents like where Clinton cliams that Hilary supposedly didn't know about his thing with Monica and then when he told her, she made him sleep on the couch for 2 months. Yeah f*ckin' right, Hilary was at one time almost as much of an adultress as you were an adulterer, Bill, and besides, your best friends said how you would turn each other on in bed by re-counting the sexual details of each others extra-marital affairs to each other hehehe. Anyway, there are many shocking and controversial things about the Clintons that you just won't read in this memoir, understandably. For example, you won't read about that allegedly true incident where Clinton admitted to a friend that Hilary was a lesbian; supposedly she has a history going back to her college days. My attitude to Clinton is very complex, feelings of like (his intellect, charm, charisma), dislike (his unethical conduct, hypocrisy and lies), and pity (he could have been such a great positive force for good, but except for a few foreign policy victories and some rather minor domestic successes as well as being lucky enough to preside over America's biggest economic growth,--except for those things, he basically "blew it"). Here is a guy who had all the gifts, but he very easily allowed himself to be corrupted by power and ambition and to take the easy (unethical) ways out to get to where he wanted to go. Also, this guy's sexual escapades are something else. He was a lady's man, but supposedly also a rapist. He allegedly raped a woman while wearing dark shades and bit her lip till it bled. Then of course there's that blonde bimbo Jennifer Flowers and others. And who can forget Paula Jones and about how he got one of his staff to call her into his office up there, so she comes in and they chat a little, then suddenly he pulls his pants down and tells her to "kiss it". None of this is in "My Life" by Bill Clinton. But this book will do two things: it will make those who hate him despise him even more; and it will make those who love him sympathize with him even more. Whatever his shortcomings, Clinton is one truly memorable president who will go down as one of the most memorable presidents, for better or worse. Will our children and grandchildren love him or hate him? The future will reveal the answer.
David Rehak
author of "Love and Madness"