Product Description

One of the most intelligent and influential women in America reflects on her eight years as First Lady of the United States in a revealing book –personal, political and newsmaking. During her husband's two administrations, Hillary Rodham Clinton redefined the position of First Lady. How this intensely private woman not only survived but prevailed is the dramatic tale of her book.
Hillary Clinton shares the untold story of her White House years and recalls the challenging process by which she came to define herself as a wife, a mother, and a formidable politician in her own right. Mrs Clinton was the first First Lady who played a direct role in shaping domestic policy; she was an unofficial ambassador for human rights and democracy around the world; and she helped save the Presidency during the impeachment crisis.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27320 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-26
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

About the Author
Hillary Clinton was brought up in Chicago and educated at Wellesley College and Yale after which she practised as a lawyer and was a children's rights activist. She married Bill Clinton in 1975 and became America's First Lady when he was elected President in 1993. She was elected Senator for New York in 2000 and is now President Obama's Secretary of State.

Customer Reviews

A careful account of an interesting life
OK so first off we need to establish that Hillary isn't a writer. However she does have a neat lawyer-ish way of caring for words. And the book is certainly clearly written and relatively easy to follow even for someone with only a passing interest in US politics. For me the explanations of the policy issues were properly written for a general audience rather than a specialist one and I did admire that she was able to make complex issues relatively accessible. Of course this book is really a preamble to her presidential run so if you're expecting any major personal revelations you'll be disappointed. But it does provide a very useful insight into a fascinating period in American politics. Well worth reading.

Living history with an eye on making it
I came to this book through the coverage of the 2008 democratic presidential contest with no real feelings for Mrs Clinton.

Living History is predominantly a political memoir of her life up to the end of Bill Clinton's presidency, but includes details of her upbringing and early years. To start with, it has to be said that the first few chapters of this book, where she covers her family background, her childhood, her adolescence, her student life and meeting Bill Clinton, are dreadful. She covers a great deal of time in short paragraphs, repeatedly punctuated with a little message about what this or that experience taught her about democracy, American values, service etc. It renders these personal chapters very dry and dull. Instead of being personal and nostalgic, they read like a political CV, justifying her qualification for the life she went on to live. It's a real shame.

That said, once Clinton begins to talk politics, the tone and focus changes and it is abundantly clear that this is her real passion. These chapters, which comprise the rest of the book, are both fascinating and engaging and though often full of self-justification, are much more subtly written. The section covering her time in the White House champions Bill's cause without spending any real time on his successes, focusing instead on setting the record straight on the more controversial parts of his tenure: thus, there's a lot about Whitewater, a lot about Hillary's failed attempt to influence healthcare reform and fairly regular character assassination of Kenneth Starr. Curiously, there is remarkably little about Monica Lewinsky, which is odd given the often defensive tone of the book.

The book is on the whole a genuinely interesting read and Mrs Clinton comes across as a true feminist, proudly breaking new ground for women in politics. In the current climate it can read a little like an application to be president and she will insist on stressing every moment when she was involved in Bill Clinton's more successful policies, which grates after a while. Those looking for an emotional response to being First Lady will be disappointed; she strikes a curious balance between political candour and extreme personal reserve, but after having so much of her personal life splashed across the papers she's probably entitled to leave some things to your imagination.

Stultifyingly Tedious...
OK, so the subject matter is potentially fascinating and in places is, despite the stilted prose. Mrs Clinton has no gift for creative writing and has produced a grey and boring book. I wanted to like it and in places I do, her description of her early life is far more evocative than the Whitehouse years, but there's no escaping the mind numbing nature of ninety five percent of the text. The only reason that the other five percent works is because of the amazing events Hillary is writing about which override her ineptitude. In the hands of skilled author the same descriptions would be entrancing but here they are merely 'quite interesting'. Yes, it's history and as such is worthwhile, but is it fun? Hell no!