Rating: 
Summary: Thorough and Compelling
Review: This well-researched book is a fair, balanced account of Bill Clinton's life, up to the time he announced his candidacy for president. Maraniss has presented an excellent portrayal of an extremely complex man. This book really doesn't make Clinton any more or less likable than he ever was, but we do get a lot of background information to help us understand what propels Clinton and why he has made some of the choices he's made; for example, we get a lot of information about Clinton's feelings about Vietnam and how it came to be that he didn't go.The most interesting parts of the book for me were about Clinton's family relationships, particularly his relationship with his mother and how she had such high expectations for him from the very beginning. We really can see how this relationship shaped his life, and how much he wants to please people. I doubt this book will change your opinion of Clinton, whatever it may be, but it will certainly give a more complete picture of an enigmatic man.
Rating:
Summary: Useful study of our unmanly, dishonorable president
Review: What makes Bill Clinton tick? David Maraniss provides many answers and is unjudgemental-he allows the reader the opportunity to judge. It's all here... Young Bill as Mama's Boy...Billy growing up in the gambling Mecca of the South, Hot Springs...the white trash, disfunctional family...the bright light at school...the development of superior analytical skills (his one true positive trait)...the Oxford and Yale years and his Leftist politics... his learning the art of "gab" and *sskissing...Clinton's development of the world's biggest roladex. One could go on. One last thing about this creature. He's the total political animal. He lives politics most of his waking hours, a sick, all-consuming way in which to live. He's most similar to Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson in this foul trait. It seems that to be successful as a major politician today, one needs to adopt the methods and personality of men like Clinton. On the Republican side, Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich are very similar to Clinton in that they are total poltical animals with almost no lifetime experience outside the political arena (Clinton, Lott, Gingrich, Johnson, Nixon have done almost any real, normal, manly work their entire lives). The George Washington ideal is gone, replaced by the Clintons and Lotts and Gingriches. Sad commentary on modern American politics; we have only ourselves to blame.
| 
