Customer Reviews

The First Partner: Hillary Rodham Clinton

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I wanted to read this book to see what made Hillary Clinton tick. It was a fascinating read, hard to put down. Her childhood and the relationship with her parents was spelled out. Her college days are covered. It offered much insight into the relationship that developed between her and Bill Clinton during their college days and the story continued throughout their courtship, marriage, his time as Governor, his bid for Presidency, her career as a lawyer, the Vince Foster suicide, their relationship with Chelsea, the scandals, the rumors, the affairs, her frustrations, etc. These are two people who will let nothing stand in their way to achieve their goals.

As a strong woman who has always had trouble understanding why a well-educated woman who is supposed to be at least as strong as I am would stay in such an abusive relationship, this book provided more than enough reasons.

This book is a must-read for those who do not understand why women with much less education and promise for their futures would make a similar decision, despite continuing abuse.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is much more socialist than I ever would have guessed. She has a head stuck firmly in the 60's, coupled with the attention span of a 5-year-old whose Ritalin ran out a week ago. Her ignorance of the economic realities of life are appalling, and her inability to understand how sweeping revisions of the social structure will adversely affect those least able to adjust to those changes is equally disturbing -- and flabergasting!

While differing views of various people interviewed for this book may be a turn-off by some readers, one need only look at the spectrum of emotions elicited by Hillary's husband to understand how people can see one human being through so many different prisms and come to so many different opinions of what they have seen.

I would recommend this book to anybody who is a news junky, Clinton-watcher -- on either side of the issue of them as human beings, or just interested in a good read with more than a bit of spice.

Joyce Milton provides a very objective account of the personality, actions, power, and influence of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Unlike some books that I have recently read, Milton presents the reader with an refreshingly unbiased depiction of Mrs. Clinton. I finished the book with a greater sense of understanding and knowlegde of the events, scandals, and rumors that have surrounded the First Lady -without feeling biased by the author's personal viewpoint. I recommend this book to anyone interested in First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I could not even finish the book. The negativity in virtually every chapter oppressed my soul. I wanted facts and to gain some knowledge about Hillary, and all I got was nausea. Milton's bias was oozing from every page. The information was second, third, and fourth hand, unsubstantiated, and based on assumptions and innuendo. It was like reading a tabloid that went on for over 400 pages. Milton spent too much time explaining what Hillary thought and what all of her "ulterior motives" were for virtually everything she has done in her life thus far. Did she know Hillary's inner thoughts by osmosis or through some Vulcan mind meld? Come on! Don't buy it, don't even check it out from the library. I would have given it a negative 5 rating, but that was not an option. A complete and utter waste of paper and ink.

I was eager to learn more about Hillary and this book has been very informative. I am appalled to learn how leftist she really is, how she became influenced in the 60s by the counter-culture and hasn't much changed from that anti-family, pro-big-Brother way of thinking. She curses like a sailor, disdains the "common folk," and despises the press for reporting her husband's Olympian-level philandering. I used to think Bill was a bad influence on her. Now I think they deserve each other.

I found the book to be easy to read and quite interesting if a bit negative at times. Since it is the only biography on Hillary I have read or will read, it suited me just fine. I hardly expected great revelations, just a good story about the woman's life--and I got that. It is no longer easy for me to read and concentrate, but I found this book held my attention and was a rewarding read.

I purchased this book to learn more about HRC; but instead was disappointed that Ms. Milton spent her time (and mine) trying unconvincingly to blast HRC. I kept attempting to check the authorities for Ms. Milton's statements and conclusions and couldn't - they aren't there. I won't read anything else by this author...she has her own agenda and is not credible and certainly not trustworthy in the conclusions she stretches to reach.

I find Hillary Rodham Clinton to be a puzzling figure, and looked to this biography to help me sort out the information about her--good and bad. However, this book is nothing new--almost all of it is combed from other published sources. It's only theme about HRC seems to be to point out how evil she is. One revelation is that--surprise surprise--Rodham had inconsistent politics as a college student. There's a shock--she's 20 and changes her mind! Milton throws out spurious information and innuendo and expects the reader to find it reliable. I wouldn't trust any of it. I see it sells for $.70 used--it might be worth that.

Shouldn't there be a negative star rating? This is old, hackneyed stuff that combines rumor and gossip with a strong desire to sell books. Our public library has refused to buy it on the grounds that there are good materials out there to spend our taxpayer dollars on so why waste it on this?

Joyce Milton is a terrific biographer (her Lindburg book is especially good) and this is up to her high standards. The partisan planted reviews make for pretty funny reading (especially the guy who talks about John Birch Society cells, but can't even spell it -- do they even still exist?) Milton is a Democrat who was a Clinton fan until she read his astounding letter to Colonel Holmes justifying his draft dodging. The shrill tone of the negatives merely tells us she has hit the target, and it hurts.