Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

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BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This is Hillary's autobiography, published in 2003 in preparation for her presidential run. It is the book which is dissected and analyzed by all of her critics and supporters, in most detail in A Woman in Charge (by Carl Bernstein, who broke the Watergate story) and in Her Way (by the reporters who broke the Whitewater story). If you want to form your own opinions, rather than trust those of the pundits and/or Hillary's critics, this book is a must-read. Our excerpts, of course, will do.

This book traces Hillary's life from her girlhood in a Chicago suburb through her election to the Senate. She says in the introduction that it was originally intended to be only a portrait of her 8 years in the White House, but, she writes, "I quickly realized that I couldn't exlpain my life as First Lady without going back to the beginning." The book chronicles, in traditional chronological sequence, Hillary's years in college; meeting Bill Clinton; as Arkansas' First Lady; the road to the White House; and finally her election in new York.

The book has chapters that will provide fodder for Hillary's supporters:

"Class of '69", about her Wellesley graduation speech, her first claim to public fame; "East Wing, West Wing", about Hillary's expansion of the First Lady's role; "Women's Rights Are Human Rights", about Hillary's trip to China and her most famous speech there; "Conversations With Eleanor", about her identifying with Eleanor Roosevelt.

And the book has chapters that will provide fodder for Hillary's detractors:

"Health Care", about her failed healthcare task force; "Independent Counsel", about the Whitewater investigation; "Soldiering On", the gently-named chapter about Monica Lewinsky; "Impeachment", about Bill's worst episode as President, and her reaction.

There's not much in the way of issues here -- it's mostly personal history and personal impressions of historic events. But when you're running for President, those personal things are important too. So read on.

-- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, Dec. 2007

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