Customer Reviews

First In His Class : A Biography Of Bill Clinton

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have held on to this book since 1996. I was intent on reading it as soon as I received it, but I held off for one reason or another. I am glad I did. By waiting until the end of the Clinton presidency I have been able to keep in mind many of the personal details of Bill Clinton and am able to to keep into context all of the things that have happened since it was published in 1996.

Within everything else that has been supposed and predicted about Bill Clinton and his legacy, there will be no doubt that he is definitely one of the most enigmatic politicians in the history of the U.S. It will be history that will judge how relevant the Clinton legacy will be. Perhaps 100 years from now this decade will only be remembered for the economy and the boom in technology. Who knows? Bill Clinton may not even be remembered as being the president of this decade--much like now when people cannot tell you who presided in the White House during the Gilded Age.

Those fascinated with President Bill Clinton will be because of his incredible adeptible personality. Clinton is the hybrid of all politicians to come before him. He is insecure & he is confident; he is short-tempered & he is relaxed in public; he is brilliant & yet knows his intellectual limits. His approval rating is high, but people do not like the man. He is all things to all people--loved and reviled. And one of his criticisms has always been his willingness to compromise ideologies--conservative and liberal--to get things done. This tends to infuriate both sides. If for anything else, he is NOT boring. Whoever we get as president this next election, neither Bush nor Gore will be nearly as interesting in the news as Clinton has been.

David Maraniss' book seeks to find some order within the complicated person that is Bill Clinton. I appreciated his balance and his use of some appropriate anecdotes that brought some depth to the man that we always think we know from the media. Bill Clinton essentially is a man who is constantly running for office. He always was and perhaps always will be campaigning. It's basically his hobby and THAT will be his legacy. He is like a great strategist always looking for the key to winning not only most of the battles, but realizes that one may need to lose a battle to win a war.

Maraniss is fair when approaches Clinton's flaws, for which there are several his critics have managed to exploit. I think the author does a great job of putting these "scandals" into perspective. Though I did find it amusing one segment referring to Paula Jones. It would be a couple of years after this book's publication that that Paula Jones investigation would explode into the eventual impeachment of Bill Clinton. I found that Maraniss does tend to underplay many of these scandalous incidents that are perhaps more significant than he reports them, but he does manage to paint them into Clinton's character in such a way that we understand that these flaws are all just symptoms to a larger problem. There are amusing stories describing Clinton's affairs and Hillary's knowledge about them and how these are resolved--such as the incident of a younger female volunteer being ushered quickly out the back door as Hillary Rodham enters the front door of Bill's campaign office.

Clinton has never stopped running. His life ever since junior-high school has been that of an ambitious campaigner. More or less he just jumped from one office to one higher. Eventually it was going to end at the Oval Office which he was able to hold for 8 years. This book will not give anyone any insight to how the Clinton presidency is or will be. The book ends at Clinton's announcement for the presidency in 1991. What this book does do is give the reader some deserved depth into Bill Clinton and how his personality and talents have led him to the highest office. This is a well doen description that is not apparent from the daily press that we have not seen in the last 8 years. And if you are like me, reading this towards the end of the Clinton administration, you will no doubt be amused at how his character has influenced the events over the last 4 years since this book was originally published.

David Maraniss has written a gripping account of Bill Clinton's rise to power. It is a testament to the quality of his work that there is no feeling of partisanship. The picture that emerges is one of a thoroughly determined, charming and intelligent individual. Maraniss examines also what kept him motivated and more precisely, who. Detailed accounts of his mother and stepfather, of Hillary and his peers are invaluable to help us understand this highly complex character. What I found most interesting about the book was the extreme emotions that I felt about Clinton. At first, one can only feel admiration and respect for the southern boy who made his way to Georgetown, Oxford and Yale Law with the brightest in the country. However, power corrupts and as Clinton starts his political ascension, he becomes less and less of a sympathetic character. I couldn't give this book five stars for a variety of reasons. While accounts of education and early life are undoubtedly useful guides, Maraniss should have focused more on Clinton's political career. It only starts roughly three quarters into the book... Finally, the book ends with Clinton announcing his candidacy for president in 1991. Surely, we could have gotten a glimpse of the toughest campaign of his life. Nonetheless, brilliant book which you should buy to understand the man who has presided over such prosperity and created such controversy.

Above and beyond the demonization and canonization . . . before the scandals, successes and defeats . . . lay the strong personality possessed by a Falstaffian hunger for the love, acceptance, and power the celebrity of politics can provide.

Journalist Maraniss' possesses an uncanny ability to avoid all the hyberbole that has surrounded Clinton and cut to the facts and create a vibrant portrait of not just a man driven to succeed at all costs, but also of a generation seeking to find its place in history.

Maraniss' central thesis: that Clinton is the first representative of the Baby Boom Generation (and everything that statement implies) to enter the White House, forms a compelling historical tapestry on which to weave his narrative.

I've always valued in a biographical author, the ability to place the subject in the bigger picture and historical frame of reference and Maraniss proves most successful in this sense. He takes a great deal of time building the proper context in which to place the Clintons. Their collective rise to power is no accident. Neither is, in reading the book, their collective fall from Grace and relative political invincibility. They knew exactly how to tap into (and exploit) the collective unconsciousness of their generation.

First in His Class, also benefits from a most prudential editing. It really is tight in its narrative and commentary. Maraniss wastes very little in developing and defending his thesis. It is so refreshing to see an author remain so focused. Even his digressions develop his central vision.

This gets my vote as the best Clinton book thus far.

This book is the absolute gold standard for political biographies. Maraniss has no axe to grind-he's just a terrific researcher, writer, and analyst. Read this book before you even think about reading any other book about Clinton.

I purchased First in His Class over a year ago, but having read six other "Clinton" books I needed a break. And then the Lewinsky story broke. David Maraniss does a superb job here. He doesn't dwell or sensationalize. What he does is give the reader uncluttered, readable, reliable biography. And then the whole Clinton thing, the "why's" and "how comes" becomes "perfectly clear." It's a fascinating life and a fascinating book. And it proves that quality biography does not have to be 800 pages long.

First, the title of this story can be misleading. In highschool, college, at Oxford and Yale, Clinton was never "first in class," based solely on grades. But, who cares? Clinton is one of the best presidents in United States history and Maraniss gives an inside look into the life of this great man despite not interviewing anyone in the Clinton family. He uses research based solely on interviews from those people closest to the man himself. When you reach for this book don't think it will give you an inside look at the presidency. It rolls along in chronological order from birth to announcement of candidacy for the 1992 presidential election so never gets to the presidency. It does however provide some interesting insights into the Clinton marriage, and the Clinton psyche. His temper, although rare is described well in this biography. Overall, it is a great read for anyone who wants to know more about a former president. Everything from his Oxford years and apparent affairs with other women not named Monica Lewinsky or Paula Jones. Perhaps the greatest thing about this book is how Maraniss remains neutral. Regardless of his like or dislike of Clinton, he never shows it.

Like all of the other reviewers of 'First in His Class', I think that the author's treatment of Clinton is thorough, impartial, and largely nonjudgemental. The thoroughness, however, tailed off at the end of the book- the '80s get skimpy treatment. There is almost nothing in this biography about Whitewater, the McDougals, Gennifer Flowers, Madison Savings & Loan, etc- all of the alleged scandals from the '80s that have dogged the Clintons during his presidency.It seemed as if the author was in a hurry to finish the book once he described Clinton's first few political campaigns. One is struck from reading this biography how lucky Clinton has been, if his objective was to reach high political office (which it was, of course)- innately intellectual and gregarious, a natural 'schmoozer', avoiding the draft in 1969-70 (although, as the author makes clear, this involved a fair amount of creativity on Clinton's part), having a relatively small state as his political 'home base' (could he have been elected governor of New York with such ease?), , running for president against a weak and incoherent candidate in 1992, etc. Clinton's good fortune in reaching his life-long goal does not detract, however, from his political cunning ('the world's largest rolodex' is my favorite expression from the book) and overweaning ambition. Herein lies the recipe to being elected to high political office. Followers of the foibles of the Clintons the last seven years will be amused to see some of the contemporary weird characters that populate (or have populated) the Clinton administration first surface during Clinton's days in college, Oxford, and law school. Strobe Talbott, Robert Reich, Bernard Nussbaum- now we know where these chuckleheads came from!

"First in His Class" is the best in a huge pile of books on the forty-second president of the United States. I appreciated Maraniss's ability to keep himself politically neutral throughout the book and he did an excellent job in recreating President Clinton's life through interviews with his wide networks of family, friends, and enemies. Of course, after reading Maraniss's book the reader has to confront the question: Who is Bill Clinton? And, to put it frankly, is he a good man or a bad man? The conclusion I reached is that while Clinton is not a great man in a personal (Lincoln, King) or historical (Napoleon, Lenin) sense, he is far from a figure who should be maligned. In fact, even in the height of the Lewinsky scandal, he remains a man worthy of admiration. Bill Clinton was determined even as a young man to take residence in the Oval office and he accomplished that against often impossible odds. Putting aside his incredible ambition for the moment, he is a person with a quiet and undeniable honor as well. His strong feelings concerning civil rights and Vietnam in the 1960s can not be explained by political shrewdness but only through deep moral concern. In conclusion, Maraniss' book is a must-read for the political junkie. Your opinion of the president will be more comprehensive even if it is not much-changed.

Fair and balanced look at Bill Clinton. Maraniss is an excellent writer, making this an easy read.

I did not read this book until a few weeks ago, long after David Maraniss was being interviewed on almost every cable news show on almost a daily basis. My impression from the interviews (unfortunately shaped almost entirely by the tone of the interviewers' questions) was that this was just another hatchet job done on the Clintons by just another right-wing hatchet man a la David Brock and his ilk. Whoa! Not so! This is a fine and well researched exploration of much of Bill Clinton's life up to 1993. I have known the former president and his first lady since he ran for congress in 1974, and we have many friends in common here in Arkansas, an awfully lot of whom are women (I am an Ob/Gyn.) While I have heard the ugly rumors of Bill's infidelity for most of the 27 years I have known them, I've yet to meet or take a medical history from any woman who ever admitted that Bill Clinton ever made an in apprpriate move on her. I know dozens with whom he flirted over the years, most of whom were highly attracted to him and more than a few who, like Paula Jones, would probably have been willing to be his "girlfriend." But as far as I know, his reputation as a roue, at least since 1982 or 83, is vastly overstated. And given the intense scrutiny he has been under all that time, I suspect that he has had far fewer amorous adventures in the past 19 or 20 years than the average national politician on either the left of the right. But back to Maraniss' book - I found it eminently fair and balanced. Certainly Clinton has some unattractive traits, but he has never been mean, cowardly, vicious, nor even hypocritical (at least not when judged by current Republican standards.) Nor has he been venal, judgemental, or vendictive, as so many of his enemies have been. Certainly Clinton, like all of us, has made mistakes in his life. One can't live a life so active and involved as his and not hurt some or disappoint others, even while trying to do the best one can. Maraniss accurately caught his compassion and his empathetic nature, neither of which is phony (unlike the pseudo-compassion and faked empathy of our "compassionately conservative" current resident of the White House.) This book should be compulsory reading for Clinton haters and for aspiring politicians. Unfortunately, we may not see his equal again in the White House for a long, long time. Probably the greatest tragedy for this country and for Clinton's presidency was the ascendency in Arkansas of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, whose editorial policies make those of the Wall Street Journal look positively progressive, even benign. The editorialists and columnist of this newspaper propagated and promoted rumors and outright lies about the Clinton's to the national media for the duration of his presidency and both national campaigns. Unfortunately, Maraniss doesn't pick up on this aspect of the "Clinton scandals" any better than did the New York Times or the Washington Post, and therefor gives as much credence to many of the lies and rumors as did the Office of the Independent Council. Had he checked a little further, he might have come to many of the same conclusions as do Gene Lyons and Joe Conason in their fine book, The Hunting of the President. However, for what it is, it is a fine book and a real contribution to the historical record, which will treat Bill and Hillary Clinton with far greater respect than it will treat most of their detractors.