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Loading... Living Historyby Hillary Rodham Clinton
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I've always admired the Clinton family but never really understood them. This holds true for Hillary as well. I find her to be a hugely fascinating yet very complex woman. On the one hand, she is a stereotypical woman of her generation, married with both a BA and a law degree. With child and a working mother. But I never really felt that I could see what made her tick. After reading her autobiography, I still don't know if I truly understand her. I certainly know much more about her childhood and some about her college years. I learned how she met Bill and what had originally drawn her to him. Bill Clinton was an enigmatic man who really drew everyone around him to his charisma. Hillary was no exception. Hillary was actually dating someone else when she met him. They began dating during law school and spent much time together. After law school, Clinton moved back to Arkansas where he knew he would end up after law school. Rodham, on the other hand, went to Washington, D.C. where she ironically worked on the Watergate case. Ultimately Hillary decided to follow her heart and moved to Arkansas to be nearer to Bill. She worked as a professor for a short while before joining a private law firm and marrying Bill Clinton. We all know what follows in her life. The book followed her time in the White House and the scandals that surrounded the presidency as well as the animosity she faced, being a very different First Lady than had been traditionally present in the White House. Rodham Clinton juxtaposed her's and Bill's time in the White House with the times of the younger Bush presidency. She also spoke of times she spent with previous First Ladies, especially Jackie Kennedy. She felt a very strong connection with Kennedy for several reasons and valued her opinion, especially when it came to raising a child in the White House. Throughout the book, Rodham Clinton stayed true to her White House promise, to let her daughter have as much privacy as possible and really did not focus on her daughter as a huge part of the book. Of course, a book about the Clintons would not be complete without mention of the Monica Lewinsky scandal--something I have some strong opinions about (feel free to ask me my response would be to questions of that nature!!) Rodham Clinton spoke of how she felt throughout the whole experience but instead of explaining what was going through President Clinton's head, she simply stated that the story is Clinton's to share, not hers. I really enjoyed learning about the details of Hillary Rodham Clinton's life but, as I stated before, I still feel that I don't understand her. I felt that even though she shared a lot of events that happened in her life, I don't feel that I know what makes her tick. To a certain extent, I felt that I was reading a history book, which isn't necessarily a bad thing BUT I was hoping to find out more about what goes on through her head, and more importantly, the emotions and voices of her heart. I read this book partly because I agree with most of Hillary Clinton's political opinions and partly because I was curious about how she lived through some very embarrassing events. I found the interplay between public events and personal responses to those events very interesting. It's also fun to get an inside view of the workings of the White House. Somehow, I get rather annoyed by the tone of this book and by the way Hilary is telling things about her life. She doesn't seem to be a nice person at all. I still want to finish it, especially looking at the fact that she is now running for US president... One of the best memoirs that I have ever read. I felt like I knew her personally through all the changes in her life. I was also very surprised to see many parallels in our lives that had to do with the times for women our age. Loved the book. no reviews | add a review
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United States Senate election in New York, 2000 White House FBI files controversy |
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Beginning with a brief outline of her childhood, college years, introduction to politics, and her courtship with Bill Clinton, Clinton covers a wide variety of topics: life on the campaign trail, her troubled tenure as leader of the President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform, meeting with foreign leaders, and her work on human rights, to name a few. By necessity, she also addresses the various scandals that plagued the administration, from Travelgate to Whitewater to impeachment, though she does not go into great detail about each one; rather, she seems content to simply state her case and move on without trying to settle too many old scores.
Along the way, she offers many apologies, though perhaps not the kind some would expect. She does not shy away from her "vast right-wing conspiracy" comment, for instance, though she does wish that she had expressed herself differently. Regarding the Monica Lewinsky scandal, she maintains that her husband initially lied to her, as he did the rest of the country, and did not come clean until two days prior to his grand jury testimony. Calling his betrayal "the most devastating, shocking and hurtful experience of my life," she explains what the aftermath was like personally and why she has elected to stand by her man. In all, Living History is an informative book that goes a long way toward humanizing one of the most recognizable, and controversial, women of our age. Shawn Carkonen
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:09 -0400)
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Die Biographie hat mich in diesem Eindruck bestätigt.Ihr Kampfgeist für liberale Ideen; ihre Menschlichkeit, von der diese Ideen getragen werden; eine warmherzige Person und Mutter, die sehr reflektierend über ihre Lebenserfahrung und Entwicklung in ihren Studienjahren und während der Zeit im weißen Haus schreibt.
Besonders erwähnenswert finde ich ihre Fähigkeit, zu ihren Schwächen und Defiziten zu stehen, wenn es z. B. um den Whitewater-Skandal geht. Interessant auch, wie sie einerseits bereits als Schülerin und Studentin sehr selbstbewußt war, aber andererseits unter ihrer Kurzsichtigkeit als Schülerin litt.
Eine aufrechte, facettenreiche Person mit Vorbildcharakter besonders für uns Deutsche. Hillary Clinton sparte in ihrer Studentenzeit den Friseur, anstatt über Studiengebühren zu jammern.
Hillary Rodham Clinton: hoffen wir, dass wir den Namen Clinton demnächst in weiblicher Form im Präsidentenamt erklingen hören!
Sie wird das Amt mit Würde tragen, und viele dringend notwendige Reformen einführen, die die Welt verbessern werden.
Ich bete für sie.