Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton [Paperback]

Barbara Olson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2001

Television commentator and former congressional investigator Barbara Olson has conducted countless interviews and tapped sources of Washington insiders to reveal the real Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Hell to Pay is yet another book on Hillary Rodham Clinton, this time from a conservative lawyer who served as the Republican chief counsel for the congressional committee investigating the Clintons' involvement in "Travelgate" and "Filegate." Barbara Olson traces the now familiar biographies of the president and first lady, contending that Mrs. Clinton is someone with dangerously liberal, even radical, political beliefs who "now seeks to foment revolutionary changes from the uniform of a pink suit." (Olson plays the theme heavily: each chapter of Hell to Pay begins with quotes from Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, which influenced the young Hillary Rodham.)

There are some interesting new tidbits scattered throughout the book, like the fact that after law school Hillary Rodham tried to become a Marine Corps officer but was turned down; or that she told her high school paper her ambition after high school was "to marry a senator and settle down in Georgetown." Olson, attempting to dissect the mystery of the Clinton partnership, writes, "Most self-respecting women would have left" after Clinton's repeated infidelities. "Hillary chose to stay. She behaves as both a desperate lover, and like a frantic campaign manager protecting a flawed candidate.... Hillary, it seems, long ago accepted Bill Clinton as someone who could advance her goals, as a necessary complement to her intellectual cold-blooded pursuit of power." As the Clinton presidency draws to a close, that pursuit has taken her beyond the White House toward a bid for her own U.S. Senate seat. Olson predicts the Senate won't be enough, just the next step toward becoming the first woman president: "Hillary Clinton seeks nothing less than an office that will give her a platform from which to exercise real power and real world leadership." While Olson admits that "Bill Clinton has always excited the greatest passion not among his supporters, but among his detractors," the same could certainly be said of his wife--whose supporters will probably consider Hell to Pay a rehash of a too-familiar story, but whose detractors will no doubt savor every page. --Linda Killian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing; Revised Edition edition (September 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895261979
• ISBN-13: 978-0895261977
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (175 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #848,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 118 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Who can doubt this? December 7, 1999

By M. Jude

Format:Hardcover

...What I found fascinating about this book was its verifiability. In every case where Olson reveals some particularly damning bit of information, she is impecable about tieing it to easily corroborated additional public documentation. What is compelling about this book is not so much that it tends to confirm the worst suspicions of many who feel that the Clintons have been a disaster for the American body politic, but that it illuminates the reasons why this has taken place. Olson, by the by, never stoops to cheap shots and is noticably quiet when it comes to Chelsea and Hillary's relationship with her. This book, taken in isolation, would be considered a most distasteful expose of an American personality. Unfortunately, we are all part of the continuing story of Hillary Clinton. This book is more of an explanation for why a member of the extended family is locked in the attic. A good book....whether you like Hillary or not!

162 of 174 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Analysis - Couldn't put it Down! November 19, 1999

By Larry Elam

Format:Hardcover

It is easy to understand why all the reviews here are either five stars or one star. There is no middle ground here. This book is wonderfully written and contains very little rehashed material which at this point is very hard to do. The best part is the critical analysis of Hillary's past writings and how they expose a hidden political agenda. Olson's analysis of the First Lady's seemingly unaltered radical persuasion is convincingly demonstrated in this meticulously researched biography. This type of writing is not one star. One star is like trying to bury the many insights which this book magnificently exposes. Bravo Barbara!

79 of 83 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ms. Olson Exposes A Phony December 12, 1999

By "twodawgs"

Format:Hardcover

This book is unabashedly anti-Clinton. And why not? The media won't, so somebody has to reveal the unseemly motives and behaviors that incubate the scandals that regularly bubble up from the depths of this White House. That's where *Hell to Pay* comes in. It spendidly unveils facts and events that the media overlook.

There are other books about the Clintons. One (Brock's) is solid and factual, but a little ponderous to read. Others (Stephanopolis' and Isakoff's) are more compelling, but they divulge little. Not so with this book, in which I had fun learning interesting, documented facts, and gaining insights that bring puzzle pieces together.

Ms. Olson shows how Mrs. Clinton - not James Carville - conceived the notion of the political campaign as war. All is fair, including hiring private investigators to dig up dirt, and barraging the opponent publicly with assertions that will hurt, but which need not be true.

Witness accounts disclose the Clintons' callous, sometimes savage, treatment of subordinates. There are illustrations of paranoia in the White House. In fact, Olson added to my knowledge of virtually every Clinton scandal. I especially enjoyed learning who and what Harold Ickes is.

Olson shows how several contemporary Clinton practices were learned from past experience. An example is "triangulation." As governor of Arkansas, Clinton was confronted with a federal court decision that left him no choice but to overhaul the state's school system. But doing so would require a tax hike, which would be tough to sell. Clinton put his wife in charge. After an extensive "listening tour," she proposed mandatory teacher testing and removing incompetent teachers as part of the tax hike bill. The voters liked the idea and gave Clinton his tax increase, all of which would go to schools. The teachers were outraged by the testing, but as time passed they saw that their jobs were safe, and that they could safely resume supporting Bill Clinton, for Mrs. Clinton had made sure very few incompetent teachers were fired, and the teachers saw new tax revenue flowing to their schools. Clinton triangulation produced form, but not substance. Arkansas school system's national ranking declined with Hillary in charge.

There's lots more; just get the book. Overall, Ms. Olson illustrates that Mrs. Clinton is not the nice lady the media strives to portray. Rather, Ms. Olson asserts, Ms. Clinton is more Nixonian than Nixon, except that Ms. Clinton lacks Nixon's statesmanship and conscience.