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Bill Clinton

Author of My Life

58+ Works 9,242 Members 215 Reviews 3 Favorited

About the Author

William Jefferson Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe IV on August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. His father, an automobile parts salesman, was killed in a car accident three months before he was born. At the age of fifteen, Bill changed his name to that of his stepfather Roger's as a gesture of show more goodwill to both him and his mother. Clinton attended Hot Springs High School where he was very active in the student government, among other things. In 1963, Clinton was chosen to attend the American Legion Boys State, a government and leadership conference in Little Rock, where he was elected a senator and given the opportunity to go to Washington D. C. and meet President John F. Kennedy. Clinton attended Georgetown University after he graduated from high school, where he majored in International Studies. He interned for Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas, and with him became an opponent of the Vietnam War. Clinton won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford where he studied for two years before attending the University of Arkansas Law School. There he was issued a draft letter and joined ROTC, but was never called up since he received a high number for the draft lottery. In 1970, Clinton entered Yale Law School and worked for George McGovern's presidential campaign in 1972. He graduated from Yale in 1973, and worked for a short time in D. C. as a staff attorney for the House Judiciary Committee. In 1974, Clinton entered his first political race, against Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt, losing to the Congressman by 2 percent. In 1976, he was elected Arkansas Attorney General and in '78 ran for Arkansas Governor, winning the race 63% to 37%. He lost the reelection two years later because of Cuban refugee issues, but regained the title in 1982, and held it till he became President in 1993. Bill Clinton announced his run for President on October 3, 1991, and with Al Gore as his Vice President, took office on January 20, 1993 at the age of 46. He was one of the youngest men to hold the office of President and the first Democrat to be elected since 1976. As President, Clinton worked on health care reform, cut federal spending, created jobs, reduced the deficit and enacted the Assault Weapon Ban as part of the Crime Bill. He also helped Israel and Jordan achieve a peace treaty, enabled a peace accord between Israel and Palestine and contributed to the cease fire in Northern Ireland. Clinton stepped down from the Presidency in 2000 to make way for George W. Bush, and established himself in offices in Harlem, New York City, New York, while his wife was elected to the U.S. Senate, representing New York State. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Bob McNeely, The White House

Series

Works by Bill Clinton

My Life (2004) 4,386 copies
The President Is Missing (2018) 2,307 copies
The President's Daughter (2021) 788 copies
My Life: The Early Years (2004) 148 copies
Between Hope and History (1996) 131 copies
Prdenten er forsvundet (2018) 3 copies
Pohřešuje se prezident (2018) 2 copies
At give (2007) 1 copy
Blair House Papers (1998) 1 copy

Associated Works

The Diary of a Young Girl (1947) — Foreword, some editions — 27,655 copies
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (1994) — Foreword, some editions — 4,761 copies
Contact [1997 film] (1997) 353 copies
Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life (2008) — Foreword — 330 copies
How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything...in Business (and in Life) (2007) — Foreword, some editions — 280 copies
In His Own Words (1997) — Foreword — 234 copies
Mandela: The Authorized Portrait (2006) — Foreword — 190 copies
The New York Times The Complete Civil War 1861-1865 (2010) — Foreword — 183 copies
Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World (2008) — Introduction, some editions — 129 copies
The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen: A Novel (2012) — Introduction — 94 copies
The Accidental President of Brazil: A Memoir (2006) — Preface — 78 copies
Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith (2005) — Foreword — 56 copies
RBG [2018 film] (2018) — Himself — 43 copies
Antaeus No. 75/76, Autumn 1994 - The Final Issue (1994) — Contributor — 32 copies
Common Sense Government: Works Better and Costs Less (1995) — some editions — 26 copies
All Rise: The Remarkable Journey of Alan Page (2010) — Foreword — 18 copies
Fed Up [2014 film] (2015) — Contributor — 14 copies
Separate Societies: Poverty and Inequality in U.S. Cities (1992) — Foreword, some editions — 13 copies
Air Force One [2001 TV movie] (2001) — Himself — 8 copies
Eddie Shapes Up (2011) — Foreword — 4 copies
Mr. New York: Lew Rudin and His Love for the City (Excelsior Editions) (2014) — Foreword, some editions — 3 copies
New Castle: Chappaqua and Millwood (2006) — Foreword — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (207) Africa (196) Amsterdam (199) Anne Frank (349) apartheid (143) autobiography (1,708) Bill Clinton (175) biography (2,022) biography-memoir (117) classic (290) classics (344) Clinton (140) diary (1,052) Dutch (132) fiction (300) Germany (122) historical (147) history (1,477) Holland (133) Holocaust (1,581) Jewish (253) Jews (218) Judaism (113) literature (134) memoir (1,107) Nazis (178) Nelson Mandela (114) Netherlands (263) non-fiction (2,542) own (144) politics (711) presidents (146) read (411) South Africa (319) thriller (135) to-read (1,304) unread (117) war (371) WWII (1,658) young adult (157)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

I wanted to rate it 2 1/2 stars but have no idea how to do so, so I stuck with 3.

The book is is a super fast read, mainly because the chapters are no more than a few pages and the writing is not deep or complicated in any sense of the word. What was fun was trying to figure out which parts were written by Clinton. Patterson isn't the greatest writer and it shows in the story and overall plot. The title also is irrelevant since the president is missing, but it only plays a minor role in the overall telling of the story. My guess is that they thought it was a great title and would bring lots of attention to the book

Definitely a good beach read though. Unfortunately the book, characters and story leave your memory as fast as a wave.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/35097255-the-president-is-missing?utm_cont...
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BenM2023 | 98 other reviews | Nov 22, 2023 |
Like a script for a straight to VHS film starring a well-past-his-prime Steven Seagal. Deliberately and stubbornly cliche, pandering to the target audience. Almost like a book for people who don't like to read books. Passages from the main character's POV are in first person present tense, which I found distracting. Maybe it's common in this urgent/thriller genre?
Not the kind of book for me at all, so take the rating with a grain of salt.
 
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jeffjardine | 28 other reviews | Sep 14, 2023 |
Look, I have a to-read list that realistically, I already won't finish in my lifetime unless the singularity occurs, and that's without adding any impulse reading to the list. But I was in the bookstore Bern train station, looking down the barrel of 12 hours of travel to get back home, all of my books AND all of my library ebooks that I'd brought with me already read and this was the only English language book that they had I'd ever heard of.

So. I didn't really have high expectations. And, you know, it kept me occupied for most of my flight, so that's a plus. But it's DUMB. So, so dumb. First of all, Clinton should not have written a book with a focal point of an impeachment scandal. Especially in which the impeachment scandal is apparently caused by the president trying to be a national hero. Also, the monologuing. So much monologuing. Most of which I ideologically agree with, but, still.

All of which would be forgivable if the action/adventure part of this show were good. Or lukewarm. It's 12 hours of travel time -- good is unnecessary. But it wasn't. It was dumb: first of all, there was very little action. Second of all the Surprise!Traitor was so obvious I called it 500 pages in advance. No exaggeration.

So, I guess, in conclusion, if you too have nothing to read and half a day of travel time and this is the only English language book you can find, go for it! In any less extenuating circumstances, do yourself a favor and find something else.
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settingshadow | 98 other reviews | Aug 19, 2023 |
Loved it! I could hear the President speaking throughout. Very interesting concept of how dependent we are on technology. Loved the interesting twists and turns.

Presidents of the United States have to make difficult decisions and learn which people to trust. Unfortunately, some things in politics never seem to change; divisiveness being primary.
 
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mapg.genie | 98 other reviews | Aug 16, 2023 |

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Works
58
Also by
39
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Popularity
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Rating
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ISBNs
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Favorited
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