Living History

Rating:
Summary: A good, if selfserving, book
Review: I found Living History an interesting read. Based on my knowledge of the Clinton wars (apolgies to Blumenthal) and the right's attempts to take him down at any cost, I saw it as a reasonably accurate, albeit somewhat selfserving, account of those times. The Clintons have been subject to an amazingly broad spectrum of attacks: Starr's ceaseless attempts to pin something, anything, on them; Ken Foster's suicide, the Buddist temple scandal in which one of the investigators was sleeping with a Chinese double agent who just happens to be a major Republican contributor/operative. I'm not sure if this book will change anyone's mind about Hillary - or indirectly, Bill - but it does provide an interesting insight into what will probably prove to be the first serious female candidate for the U S Presidency.

Most of the other reviews appear to be less review and more hatred of anything Clinton. For the record, Hillary did write the book, in longhand, no less, although the originally intended ghost writer was paid.

Rating:
Summary: Did we read the same book?
Review: Some of your featured customer reviewers appear to be expressing their opinions about the author rather than the book in question. The Living History I listened to (audio CD version) was as advertized, a history, and very much like listening to tapes of older relatives relating events occurring during various periods in their lives. As a contemporary of Ms. Clinton, I was interested in her take on those years as I remembered them. I found the work engaging, even moving in parts. I was dismayed to read the reviews on this website that emphasized political differences, even bordering on viscious reactions to her remembrances. I enjoyed the book, especially her recollections of raising a daughter in "interesting times".

Rating:
Summary: fiction
Review: mentions nothing of all her failures and lies. total fiction and disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful, insightful memoir
Review: I wish that all the anti-Hillary people out there would take the time to read this book. Hillary Clinton comes across as being very insightful and intelligent. It's easy to look at her and just see her as being Bill Clinton's wife, but she had a very successful career prior to her marriage and she has a successful career now. It was interesting to read about Hillary's perceptions on politics and being a woman in a profession that (unfortunately) is often dominated by men. People who were expecting this book to be a trashy tell-all book about her husband are ignorant to think that a woman like Hillary would write something like that in the first place. This is an insightful, honest memoir written by a smart and independent woman who will most definitely go on to create an even greater legacy for herself than she already has established.

Rating:
Summary: What a waste
Review: This book was such a joke, but what could you expect from a money and power hungry, lying, fake. Hillary could not tell the truth if her life depended on it. I'm so sick of hearing her held up as a role model for our young women. Where was N.O.W. when she was so grief stricken by her husband's infidelity(s). This book was a waste of good money, (I didn't buy it, it was given to me) and time spent reading it. Gee wonder how many copies her and Bill bought?

Rating:
Summary: Not for those who can't read grownup books.
Review: When someone as well known as Hillary Clinton writes a book, many have expectations of what that book should be. When it is not the book they thought she should write, they judge it "bad." Obviously, many thought "Living History" should contain lurid "insider" details of what was never any of their business in the first place - the personal, intimate relationship in a marriage. I applaud Senator Clinton for not pandering to base expectations (as the conservative writer of an another current bestseller does).
"Living History" is interesting in that it tells what it feels like in a personal sense to experience the ins and outs of American politics. Further,it helps us to understand the kind of inner strength it takes to survive it, all the way to the highest office in the land. Also, I knew Senator Clinton was a strong advocate for women's and children's welfare, but I had no idea that she had done so much work on their behalf, in the United States and all over the world. That theme of the book was fascinating.
Perhaps my greatest pleasure was in the personal identification with Clinton's Midwestern upbringing -- the social mores of the early 60's and how things changed by the end of the decade, the impact of the civil rights movement, her grounding in religious faith, etc. Her richly detailed recollections brought back those years vividly. I also identify strongly with the importance of friends in her life and with how she raised her daughter. And if there's one statement in the whole book which explains her enduring commitment to a marriage that has caused her a great deal of pain, it is when she says that she and Bill Clinton started a conversation 30 some years ago that is still ongoing. I wonder how many of her most rabid critics can say that about their marriages?
P.S. It's obvious that a lot of "reviewers" didn't read this book How about including, in the directions for writing a review, a little honor statement for the reviewer to "sign" that he or she has actually read the book?

Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: Celeste Dupree, Law Clerk

I truly enjoy reading memoirs, in fact I try to get a new book weekly and have it finished the next week for the next good book. Why I waited to buy this one I don't know. It is insightful and brilliantly written. I wish that the Authors could have spilled the beans a bit more about Ms. Clinton-but we can't get all the dirt can we? As a whole this is an excellent book. I have told all my friends about-it is well rounded and a great read.

Also recommending other best memoirs: Nightmares Echo, Running With Scissors,A Child Called It, Beauty For Ashes,Color Purple...and so many more

Rating:
Summary: Hillary Clinton
Review: I'll begin this review with the admission that I do not agree with most of Hillary Clinton's politics. I didn't before I read the book, and I don't now. But that's okay. I wasn't looking for a book that justified her politics, though I would certainly be fascinated to read one should she choose to write it.

Rather, I was looking to read this book for the same reason that I read all autobiographies - because I was curious about her thinking and trying to learn what makes her tick. While most of this book gives nothing away beyond some dry facts and a few nice side stories (like how she had to deal with her teenage daughter wearing a mini-skirt to a major event, something that all mothers of teenage daughters can relate to), there is an underlying theme about her role as first lady that seems to point to her thinking.

By Hillary's own admission, she struggled with this role, and sought to expand and redefine it, or as another reviewer wrote, she sought to create a job where previously none had existed. And perhaps that is what average Americans had against Hillary. It wasn't about, as Hillary asserted, her role as a woman in power. It was about the fact that *she* had not been elected, her husband had. She tried to create a position of power for herself that was not rightfully hers. If she wanted that position, she should have run for president herself. While she blames the healthcare fiasco on republicans and 'an American public not willing to accept a woman in such a powerful position', she doesn't take a moment to reflect on whether or not she was appropriately in that position. After all, in no other corporation could a husband hand his wife such a major office and hope to keep his job himself. It's called nepotism and corporate America has long since held that it's not good policy. As an avowed feminist, Hillary never seems to take a moment to reflect on the thought that other feminists might not appreciate the idea being put out that they need their husbands to give them good jobs. This is what makes the book worth reading to those who are curious about what makes her tick. Having the opportunity to hear her discuss this in her own words is worth the time.

There are, of course, some other things that point to how she may think and feel. Her constant verbage against a 'vast right-wing conspiracy' and her assertion that she was owed some sort of real job as First Lady, are interesting. They are interesting because it is difficult to believe that someone with Mrs. Clinton's education could really believe in something as hokey as a 'vast right-wing conspiracy', or that she honestly thought that she was owed power as First Lady. Is this political grand standing? Is it self-deceit? Or does she really believe this? It is almost impossible to guess, but it's very interesting that her thinking allows her to claim it, upon whatever grounds.

Whether you are conservative or liberal or somewhere in between, it is worth the time to read this book by and about such an undeniably controversial figure. You may or may not change your ideas about her, but you will understand her thinking a little better, and that's worth something.

Rating:
Summary: MISS INDEPENDENT
Review: Don't hate me for liking Hillary it's easy for someone to say they don't like someone and judge the book by its cover without even knowing anything about a person. If you plan not to read this book "Living History" by Hillary Clinton
you'll change your mind and have a different outlook on Mrs. Clinton.
Hillary who has constantly invokes a " zone of privatecy" around her and loved
ones, talks in this book about Bill and how he had narrow wrist and tapered fingers when
she first meet him at Yale in the 1970`s. Hillary also talks about how she wanted to
kill Bill when she found out that he had an sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky
and she goes on to tell the world how she had to get counseling so she could stay with him. Over all this book has a taste of a stump speech. Mrs. Clinton is fond of talking about herself in terms as a symbolic figure. "While Bill talked about social change I embodied, it" It`s hard to trust anyone in politics. Politicians livelihoods depends on
how few people they offend, and Mrs. Clinton is a good politician. At times in the book Hillary wants to tell vivid detailed story and starts it but stops at juicy details
for the fact she can offend and hurt someone. (not like your everyday politician)

I really enjoyed reading this book, because I had a whole different out look on Hillary and her family. She`s a woman who doesn't let anything get in her way, and though she has been through some tough decisions and everyone in her business she make life look so easy and manges to stay on top , And refuges to let any one bring her down. I loved reading this book, I found myself shedding some tears. Now I know why they say don't judge a book by its cover. If you take the time to critize you don't have time to get to know and love someone. And Living History talks about not only about the Clintons but it shows you how to love even when you are in a big black whole.
Hillary reminds me a lot of princess Diana, they are both legends and have a heart for people, not only for the people in their surrounding but for the people that are in need of their help that the average humans wouldn't dare look at or be around. Hillary didn't have to write an autobiography. Majority of people would not feel comfortable talking about events that are personal and private. Hillary is a bright person and knows the best least damaging thing to say.

Hillary Clinton tells her life story in "Living History." She does it with grace and caution and love towards her enemies. The only First Lady to play a major role in shaping domestic legislation and in my perspective does more for her people than her husband. Don't get me wrong Bill is my favorite president but Hillary is untouchable and on top of that she a woman. If you don't like Hillary and Bill and would like to see their careers ended, don't look for negtiveatity in this book. Because this book is full of love and there is no kind of anosmity in this book. This is a good book for everyone to read but it does get boring and make you want to fall asleep but by the time you reached
The middle it gets tutching and you can`t put the book down. What woman do you know can run for president and can actually win? This book gives you a brief look at the white house, and it makes you question your self can this woman really be the next president?
My intentions were not good when I first got it, but I figured I needed a book to gruaduate and I should give it a chance.

Rating:
Summary: The most controversial American woman of our time. . .
Review: Reviews of "Living History" are all over the lot, just as people's opinions of this controversial woman. The book itself is a well-written, political autobiography of a woman whose political career is far from over, and therefore you'll find few revelations, and not much candid self-reflection. But there's a reason this was a surprise best-seller--Hillary is a smart, complex woman, who continues to shape American politics in a way her husband no longer does.

Hillary had modest, conservative, Midwestern roots, growing up in the Chicago area and starting her political life as a young republican. It seems clear that she was going places long before she met Bill Clinton--she knew Vernon Jordan before she met her future husband, and Wellesley and Yale are hardly run of the mill schools. But Bill clearly provided the platform for her to shine. Bill and Hillary are two totally political animals, and focussed on little else--lost in the publicity surrounding the purchase of the house in New York State after Bill left office was the fact that the Clintons had somehow neglected to acquire a home they could return to, and New York was as good a place as any, even if Hillary had not decided to run for senator. Money and material possessions seem not to hold a lot of atttraction for these two--but power is another story.

Hillary's first years in office were painful--she struggled to create a real job where none existed, and what worked in Arkansas didn't work nationwide--thus the health care fiasco. Smarting from that experience, she spent the next few years in a more traditional role, using her position to raise awareness of women's and children's issues. Then the scandals hit. She portrays herself and Bill as remarkably self-possessed throughout, and her analysis of the legalities of Whitewater, Travelgate and the impeachment are excellent--I had forgotten that she worked on the Nixon impeachment as a young lawyer and was something of an expert in the field. And critics--of which there are many--forget that the Clintons were exonerated of all wrongdoing.

Is this book something of a whitewash? Of course! Nothing is said of her famous temper, the Clintons' abandonment of friends when they got into hot water, Bill's crazy work habits. And it's easy to weary of her constant references to her prayer group and Eleanor Roosevelt. But this book is an intriguing look at life in the White House, and a glimpse, carefully controlled though it may be, into the mind of a woman we haven't heard the last of.