Rating: 
Summary: Consperisy
Review: Anytime the left wing starts with the work "fair" you know nothing is farther from the truth. Just like what slick willy put our country through was justified to the end. And then, as the Democrats always do, "it wasn't my fault..." pass the buck and pass on the book!
Rating: 
Summary: Well balanced, factual writing
Review: Being neither a friend nor a foe of Hillary, I was often confused when I would ask detractors why they disliked her so much. They could often not express it. I happened across this book and read it in a very short time. The writing was compelling and kept my interest. Tomasky answered my questions about Hillary and explained how, dispite such overwhelming dislike of her, she was still able to win this election. I found his personal insights into the campaign, from having been present through the entire 18 months, to his antidotes from other reporters and sources to be explanitory and interesting, all the while keeping a balanced view of her and telling both the negative and positive aspects of her and her campaign. I highly recommend this book. It answered quite a few of my questions about this controversial politician.
Rating:
Summary: A star without its real lights are so poor one!
Review: Hillary is one of the greatest woman in the American history .Her patience are equal to the First Lady's title and I do not think she will stop keeping such talent up to her future political career:whether the President or a Senate only in America polity !She has spent a very hard time while Clinton-the latest American President--got to its utmost fames!I think if Hillary is active in P.R.C,she will be a miserable victim of public opinion! ------Hillary is really a good one! I bless her!!...!
Rating:
Summary: Well balanced, factual writing
Review: Hillary's Turn is predominantly about the 2000 Senate campaign in New York. Most of the focus is on Hillary Clinton, but there is also a lot of information on Rick Lazio, Rudy Giuliani, Al Sharpton, and other notable New York politicians. Even though it is sympathetic to Senator Clinton, the Republican Party in New York gets very even handed treatment. In fact, the most interesting parts of the book are about the inner conflicts of both parties. I would say that the only problem with the book is that it mostly talks about New York City, and not other parts of the state. It is a very well written book, and since the author, a reporter, covered the campaign, he makes some good first hand observations. The reader also gets the feeling that the author sees a possible Clinton vs. Giuliani race in either 2006, for the Senate, or 2008, for the big prize.
Rating:
Summary: Hillary's Turn
Review: I am not a huge fan of Hillary Clinton (nor her husband, for that matter), but I found this book to be quite enlightening in regards to her character as well as the motive for her Senate campaign. After reading this book, Hillary seems far less a tool of the liberal elite, and more a 'do-gooder' out to actually create positive change in the world. Needless to say, the future will tell if she is an effective senator, but the book details the positive reasons which led to her victorious campaign.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating - should be required reading.
Review: I had not expected to be so much entertained by this book, but I was. Tomasky goes all the way back to the 1920s to explain how the political situation that made Hillary a senator arose, and he makes it make sense. Even if you are not that interested in HRC, this book makes a good tutorial of New York politics, its history and psychology.As for Hillary herself, Tomasky makes it seem clear that just about everything you read about her in regular media is wrong. That's not to say that you will like her from reading this, but you will most likely begin to understand (and understand why) your opinion has been built at least partially out of distorted information. My favorite line comes in the prologue: "Hillary has been so reluctant to fill in the blank spaces of her life that people filled them in for her, according to the few clues she dropped along the path, and according to their own ideals and neuroses." I can't see how you can hit the nail on the head more squarely. How else do you explain the reports of more than a few white, professional women (a demographic that was unexpectedly against Hillary) began spending their $185/hour therapy sessions talking not about themselves, but about Hillary? More questions: Why did she do so well upstate, where she was not expected to? Why did she finally get the jewish vote? Why did she run in the first place? What happened to change her from such a lousy candidate at the beginning to a winner? Tomasky provides most of the answers, and they probably aren't what you are expecting them to be. Good reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Turn for the Better
Review: I'm very much involved in New York State politics - yet I learned much from this insightful and thoroughly enjoyable book. HILLARY'S TURN is written almost like a series of news articles. Even the layout of the cover suggests that the book is merely a hardbound tabloid. Indeed, news coverage of the campaign is one of the book's main themes. The effect is to move the action of the book along in a dramatic and concise manner. Tomasky doesn't stop much to reflect, which seems somehow ironic considering his portrayal of most of the players as unreflective. But that's fine because as campaign accounts go, this one is all action. Tomasky's three major characters are Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giulliani and Rick Lazio. He somehow manages to paint them all in a fairly good light, while dramatizing their oddest characteristics. He seems particularly fascinated by Giulliani, who he claims did the "most bizarre thing a politician has ever done, ever." Tomasky seems to believe that Hillary herself is sort of boring, but the events that were happening around her were anything but. For all the fun of this book, it has a few flaws. Most outstanding of these is the great disparity in Tomasky's reporting when it comes to upstate rather than New York City politics. Tomasky's sources and knowledge of NYC politics are first rate, but his knowledge of upstate seems to be limited to what he saw on the bus. Much is left out, not the least of which is a full appreciation for Hillary's use of the upstate economy as an issue, and Lazio's perplexing refusal to do the same. But that's a subject for someone else and not reason enough to skip this book. HILLARY'S TURN is a real page-turner!
Rating:
Summary: A Turn for the Better
Review: I'm very much involved in New York State politics - yet I learned much from this insightful and thoroughly enjoyable book. HILLARY'S TURN is written almost like a series of news articles. Even the layout of the cover suggests that the book is merely a hardbound tabloid. Indeed, news coverage of the campaign is one of the book's main themes. The effect is to move the action of the book along in a dramatic and concise manner. Tomasky doesn't stop much to reflect, which seems somehow ironic considering his portrayal of most of the players as unreflective. But that's fine because as campaign accounts go, this one is all action. Tomasky's three major characters are Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giulliani and Rick Lazio. He somehow manages to paint them all in a fairly good light, while dramatizing their oddest characteristics. He seems particularly fascinated by Giulliani, who he claims did the "most bizarre thing a politician has ever done, ever." Tomasky seems to believe that Hillary herself is sort of boring, but the events that were happening around her were anything but. For all the fun of this book, it has a few flaws. Most outstanding of these is the great disparity in Tomasky's reporting when it comes to upstate rather than New York City politics. Tomasky's sources and knowledge of NYC politics are first rate, but his knowledge of upstate seems to be limited to what he saw on the bus. Much is left out, not the least of which is a full appreciation for Hillary's use of the upstate economy as an issue, and Lazio's perplexing refusal to do the same. But that's a subject for someone else and not reason enough to skip this book. HILLARY'S TURN is a real page-turner!
Rating:
Summary: Best book of its kind
Review: Michael Tomasky's HILLARY'S TURN not only gives a comprehensive account of all of the events that affected Hillary Clinton's quest for the Senate, but also does it in a way that's balanced, free of cliche and surprisingly literary. Tomasky is a gifted writer and a great stylist, but he doesn't bang you over the head with his talent. A phrase just catches the eye; you re-read it; you re-re-read it this time aloud and you say to yourself "wow! this SOB can write!" I'm sure everyone else is commenting about the politics, so I'll leave that alone. Let's just say that I'm one of those who felt that Hillary was TOO CONSERVATIVE -- the death penalty, the drug war, the HMO/INSURANCE CO/AMA health gin-up, advocating abstinence, all the DLC bs, etc. -- and this is the first book that takes the opinions of our small cohort seriously. Tomasky also makes very clear how and why people of different ideological stripes loved her or hated her. Most of all, we get a great insight into what's important in NYC and New York State politics today. We see the "gears grind" as Tomasky might have said. Super reading.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Book Even Though Written by a Hillary Apologist
Review: Tomasky's book will be the first and last book you need to read about the year 2000 New York Senate race. Well written, fast paced, often humorous and wonderfully insightful, Tomasky's book is both interesting and entertaining. Political junkies will thoroughly enjoy this book, especially with the facinating insights the book provides into the unique eccentricities of New York politics. As a New Yorker and long time observer of New York politics, Tomasky is uniquely equipped to relate Hillary's race to New York's political past and the expectations that past imposed on this race. Tomasky's book is largely about how such conventional wisdom was shattered by the unexpected outcomes of this race. Additionally, Tomasky's observations of the quirkiness of New York's politics is one of the most interesting aspects of the book. Tomasky shows that politics is a very different proposition in New York than much of the rest of the country. Tomasky sprinkles the book with engrossing tales of New York's political history and its personalities which makes for very colorful reading and provides more than a few chuckles. The downside of the book is that Tomasky seems a bit overly enamored with Hillary. Tomasky is very exhaustive in detailing Hillary's missteps in the campaign and makes clear she exercised some very poor political judgments, especially early in the race. Tomasky clearly puzzles at her lack of openness and availability to the press. But for the many more malignant furors that erupted during the campaign related to Hillary's ethics, Tomasky always seems to develop some alibi or another for Hillary to exhonerate her, such as when her husband issued clemency to Puerto Rican terrorists. Tomasky seems to brush off any notion that Hillary would have known about this action ahead of time because her campaign was surprised by the move. But what Hillary knew and what the campaign knew and when they all knew it may well have been two very different things. Tomasky fails to recognize this, and leaves unanswered why after years of asking for clemency President Clinton suddenly granted these terrorists their request in the middle of his wife's campaign in a state with a large Puerto Rican population. With all the many outstanding questions about Hillary's very checkered ethical past, Tomasky seems to dismiss these as nothing more than the product of the overactive imagination of "Hillary haters." He seems unconcerned for how Hillary's demonstrated lack of honesty and candor, as well as the many outstanding questions about her role in the Travel Office affair and shady Whitewater business dealings, effect her ability to be a trustworthy leader. Tomasky taxes credibility a bit by seeming more offended by the New York state GOP mentioning the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in an anti-Hillary campaign ad or Trent Lott reminding Hillary she needs to be a humble freshman Senator than he does about the demonstrated inconsitencies in Hillary's claims about the Travel Office affair that appear to be bald-faced lies. Additionally, Tomasky is a little overly harsh in his assesments of Lazio's campaign. While Tomasky amply demonstrates that Lazio ran a very ham-handed race, much more than I was previously aware of, Tomasky seems to have little good to report about Lazio or the race he ran. Despite Tomasky's obvious leanings, this book is well worth the read. I really enjoyed Tomasky's intelligent and witty writing style and were the book a little more balanced, I'd rate this book with 5 stars. But Tomasky has managed to take what could have been a very cumbersome topic and made it a breezy, readable, concise and well-told tale of one of the more interesting political races in recent memory.
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