Customer Reviews

Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you're a Hillary devotees, you'll give this book 1 Star -- it doesn't fawn over her enough, and convincingly reveals some character flaws.

If you're a Hillary hater, you'll give this book 1 Star -- it doesn't protray her as evil.

In short--the writers don't appear to have an ax to grind. A seemingly unbiased biography. What a rare thing these days for a political figure!

If you're just trying to understand the person, you'll give it 3-4 Stars cause it's a valiant effort in that direction that leaves the reader with more questions than insight to her character. They leave the reader to draw their own conclusions, without bias, it seems to me.

Her husband (or, better, political-business partner), speaking of their relationship said, "The tapestry of our marriage is deep, colorful, and well-woven--and nobody will tear it asunder." Gerth and Van Natta weave a tapestry of a public persona here that is inegmatic, controversial, and well-publicized--and there's no decoder ring offered to figure it out.

The question the reader is left with is this: Just what is the core driving ethos of this person? Is it too deep to fathom, or merely as shallow as raw ambition for power? The people who think they know the answer to that question are the ones with 1 Star.

I normally do not read biographies of living people. However, I have been interested in Hillary Rodham Clinton since she came onto the national stage as the wife of a presidential candidate and then as First Lady and Senator. So, it was with great anticipation that I began reading.

Unfortunately, I found the book to be less than I had hoped for. It reads like a college research paper or perhaps a textbook study. Nearly every paragraph is footnoted, some two or three times. This does lend credibility to an unauthorized biography that was written without actually interviewing the subject matter, but it also makes the writing feel choppy and disconnected. To me it seemed as if statements were cobbled together with little regard to the final flow. It is also quite clear that the authors are not fans of Hillary Clinton.

The book basically begins in 1970 when Hillary Rodham was a student at Yale Law School. Approximate three pages summarize her life prior to that time--with a few other paragraphs focusing on her undergrad years at Wellesley College. What I found most disappointing in the early sections of the book was the lack of any new information. A great deal of space was spent rehashing the Whitewater investigation that was carried on while the Clintons were in the White House. There is also a further rehashing of Bill Clinton's sexual infidelities. I felt both of those issues have been covered many times over and that nothing new was added in this book.

The final third of the book, as it moves into the areas of Hillary Clinton's Senate participation, and her preparation to run for President, are much more interesting than the first sections. While the biases of the authors are still evident, the material has a freshness that is lacking in the beginning.

This book could be a starting point for research into Hillary Clinton's life. The over 30 pages of endnotes could certainly lead to other source material. I would not recommend it for casual reading though.

Armchair Interviews says: Worth reading if you want to better understand Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this nonfiction novel. I believe Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. have put together a well-researched and unbiased book that accurately describes Hillary Clinton's life and possible future accomplishments. While others have criticized this novel as an attack on Hillary Clinton, I came away quite impressed with all of the struggles she has overcome and her steadfast determination to do what she believes is the right thing to do. Granted she does change her mind quite a bit concerning what is right and what is wrong.

I learned a great deal about Hillary's personality and the people she surrounds herself with; I was fascinated by the loyalty of her friends and colleagues. I believe Mrs. Clinton to be a smart, confident, determined, and experienced leader. I don't agree with most of her political beliefs. This book proves she can be abrasive, overconfident, and overly defensive when she doesn't need to be.

The events, opinions, and fact-finding work throughout this book were nothing short of brilliant. Anyone who wants to learn as much as they can about this possible next president of the United States must have "Her Way" on their reading list.

From growing up in Illinois (right next to where my Mom worked), to her days in Arkansas, and her eight years in the White House as first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton has led an amazing and complicated life. And she has indeed done things "her way."

Again, I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from the first page to the last page. So be sure to check out this fantastic piece of literary work as soon as possible. You won't be sorry!

Remember, this review is coming from a Conservative-Christian-Ronald-Reagan-Republican who thought he would never have much good to say about a woman on the LEFT. This book has indeed taught me that there is more to Hillary Clinton than I gave her credit for.

See ya next review.

Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta are investigative reporters on the staff of the New York Times. In Her Way, they have scrupulously researched the life of Hillary Clinton and produced a fair and balanced account of her life (or at least as fair and balanced an account as one can produce without the cooperation of its subject, as the authors disclose in a foreword to their work).

Gerth and Van Natta have dug deep (down to examining Senator Clinton's home building permits in the context of her practice of energy efficiency) and have penned an extremely worthwhile volume. Hillary Clinton emerges as highly disciplined, ambitious and tough. (Should she win her race for the White House, toughness will not be an issue.) The picture of Hillary as a young girl is moving and gallant-- as a 13 year old, she challenges voter fraud in the 1960 presidential election, weighing in on the side of her father's Republican Party, and she campaigns ardently for "the Presidency" of her high school class, winning admiration despite her defeat by a male classmate.

Clinton's flaws are also depicted forthrightly by Gerth and Van Natta. She sometimes fails to conduct crucial research, with unfortunate results (a botched Arkansas trial is cited, as is her failure to read the full National Intelligence Estimate on the question of weapons of mass destruction and al Qaeda connections in Saddam Hussein's Iraq). Senator Clinton also emerges as impatient and dismissive of the rules that govern lesser mortals (she has consistently failed to file personnel disclosures required of her Senate office and some of her legal billing records at the Rose Law Firm were of questionable veracity), secretive, and inconsistent in certain of her policy positions (her position on Iraq has progressed from ardent advocate of invasion to advocate of short-term withdrawal; that Senator Clinton's position has evolved is less remarkable than her unwillingness to discuss the evolution forthrightly).

Her Way also probes Senator Clinton's relationship with her husband, the former President, and her role in the formation of White House policy. What emerges is a complicated picture. The evidence assembled by Gerth and Van Natta suggests that Hillary and Bill Clinton love each other-- Bill Clinton's repeated marital indiscretions notwithstanding-- but also indicates that mutual ambition lies at the center of their relationship. Van Natta and Gerth refer repeatedly to a 20-year plan, supposedly crafted in the early 1970s, to put Bill in the White House, and amended during the White House years to include an 8-year presidential term for Hillary Clinton. While Van Natta's and Gerth's evidence for the existence of a 20-year plan and its extension is not airtight (and the existence of such a plan has been denied by the Clintons), there is sufficient direct evidence to render the possibility credible. As well, the trajectory of the Clintons' political careers and their mutual dedication to political success provide potent circumstantial evidence for the existence of such a plan. What emerges strongly from Her Way is that Hillary Clinton has been a vital strategist and organizer-- perhaps the most vital-- for Bill Clinton during his years in Arkansas and the White House, and that he is returning the favor by helping her to build an independent political career.

Will this volume affect your views of Hillary Clinton? Perhaps. This reader's respect for Senator Clinton was increased by the portrait of her early years. The myriad political obstacles that she and her husband have faced certainly accounts for much of her distrust for the press and preference for secrecy. While this arouses a certain sympathy, Senator Clinton's flaws-- including conflicts of interest during her husband's governorship, professional lapses, and repeated failures to file disclosures required of her Senate office-- are troubling. In sum, Her Way will give you the information needed to make a fuller assessment of Senator Clinton and her place in U.S. politics.

I know lots of people who are on the fence about whether to support Hillary Clinton. This book helped me cut through the swirl of information about Clinton and gave me answers about how she operates as a politician, her weaknesses and strengths and what kind of a President she might be. It seems that Clinton has been in the public eye forever, but I still feel like I don't know her. This book really helped clue me in by taking me behind the scenes in a simple, direct way.

The prologue to Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr.'s book ends with two ominous-sounding sentences: "For decades, Hillary and Bill Clinton, along with a core group of friends and supporters, have told one story. Now it is time for another."

Ouch! That tone of literary voice will certainly set off alarm bells among Hillary Rodham Clinton's legions of admirers. Gerth and Van Natta are both veteran hard-nosed journalistic hands. Jeff Gerth was the point man at the New York Times in stirring up the Whitewater controversy that caused the Clintons incredible trouble before it blew over with no charges against them. They know where and how to dig for facts and underlying documentation. In this book they may acknowledge Hillary's strengths and strong points, but they seem mainly intent on cutting her down to size as her bid for the presidency picks up steam.

HER WAY is not intended as a comprehensive Hillary biography, though it does adequately cover the basics of her early years. It is more a study of her methods of political operation and an effort to probe her way of thinking about the world, about politics and about herself. The portrait that emerges is that of a powerful and ambitious woman who brooks no opposition, never admits a mistake, carefully constructs a public image that may or may not reflect her real views and tries to ignore or suppress inconvenient facts that may undermine that public persona. As the book ends, the authors wonder who the "authentic" Hillary Clinton may be. It is certainly a question worth asking. They don't seem to know the answer and neither does the reader.

Gerth and Van Natta dutifully stir up the cold ashes of Whitewater, Travelgate, Vince Foster's death, Hillary's commodities trading fortunes, her work for the Rose law firm in Arkansas and --- of course --- Monica Lewinsky. Their research is thorough, but there is a snide quality to their constant tendency to find some angle, fact or interpretation that reflects unfavorably on their subject. (Example: If Hillary sidesteps a reporter's question about support for improved auto fuel-efficiency standards, they add gratuitously, "Michigan is an important primary state, after all.")

For purposes of the upcoming presidential campaign, the most relevant part of this book is its detailed account of how Hillary arrived at --- and subsequently tried to justify --- her vote for the Iraq war powers resolution. This will surely be the deciding factor for a large contingent of voters in 2008 if she is the nominee. Gerth and Van Natta show that when Iraq first became a contentious issue she seemed to side solidly with President Bush, only drifting off toward hardnosed opposition as the strength of antiwar sentiment began to build. This is a road traveled by a fair number of senators in recent years, but the authors are quick indeed to question Hillary's motives and paint her as opportunistic. They fault her for being one of 94 senators who did not read the full classified text of the famous National Intelligence Estimate that cast doubt on the administration's rationale for invading Iraq. Among those 94 members were several others who later became candidates for President.

The overall impression created by this book is that two Hillary Clintons exist --- one a carefully airbushed and spin-doctored public woman, the other a real person driven by "raw political ambition" who will do or say anything, crush any opponent and seize upon any issue to get her where she wants to go.

That may be true, but we just don't know yet. Well, we have 16 months to find out --- and I'm not sure that Gerth and Van Natta are the most neutral of guides for the journey. They demonstrate that they "know" Hillary Clinton better than you and I do, but their own motives are not much clearer than hers.

[...]

Her Way is ample evidence that objective writing is alive and well. Her Way is a very enjoyable and informative read from two pulitzer prize winning investigative reporters. There is no slant here. That's why some of the other reviewers seem to pan the book. If you hate Hillary, chances are you won't like the book because it says some pretty nice things about her. If you love Hillary, chances are you won't like the book because it says some pretty bad things about her too. The problem with the two latter view points, and much of modern politics, is the singular viewpoint way of thinking. This book is not a political statement, it is an objective portrait of a woman and her record, who has a very real chance of becoming president of the United States for the first time in history. Putting political partisan feelings aside would be a great idea, because that very narrow minded singular thinking may prevent you from reading a great new book about Hillary. There is much insight into the woman, and more importantly, the politician she really is here. F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "The true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time." Don't sell yourself short.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning `New York Times' reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr. analyze Hillary Clinton's personal and public life. With their investigative background they delve into her years in Arkansas, the White House, the U.S. Senate and as a 2008 presidential candidate. The authors conducted interviews and researched documents in order to objectively portray Clinton's legislative career, faith-based social activism, and marriage. Though the book is powerfully written, there is not much new information shared if you have been keeping up with all the books released on the Clinton's. What makes this book different is that is written by two writers of mainstream press.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a very public and divisive person. Whether you love her, like her, have no opinion or hate her, this book takes you on a journey through her life that while we can't (and the authors can't) presume to know her most private and inner thoughts, we can certainly reach some conclusions and become more aware of her more public politics and ideologies.

I am not personally a fan of Hillary. In fact I rather dislike her and totally disagree with her standings on all issues whether it be health care, abortion, energy issues, etc. However, I do find that after reading this book that even while I disagree with her and feel very suspect of her motivations and desire for power, I have come to have a very real respect for her intellect.

Hillary and Bill made a pact to get him to the White House and then it would be her turn. Currently we are in the "her turn" mode. How they got there and how hard Hillary especially has had it in order to overcome many extreme obstacles is fascinating.

This book reveals her strengths and her weaknesses without making any judgments on either. That is left to the reader.

Well worth reading no matter your personal politics or feelings about the Clintons and Hillary in particular.

Recommended.

This is the book to read if you want some straight reporting on Hillary's life and career. It covers everything from her youth through 2006 without ever become an attack piece or hagiography. A bit more than a third of the book is devoted to her work as a candidate and then as the junior Senator from New York.

At first, I found the early portions of the book unsatisfactory because the authors seem to be giving her every benefit of the doubt. For example, on page 79 they try to say that Hillary's work at the notoriously leftist Legal Services Corporation doesn't mean Hillary holds leftist values. The evidence? A quote from the ultra-extreme leftist Mickey Kantor saying, "From my perspective, she was very moderate." OK. He admits he was a flamethrower, why does that necessarily make Hillary not a leftist? They also minimize the influence of Saul Alinsky on her career and manner of politics or even that Alinsky was much more than "a colorful Chicago community activist" (pg 33).

The book also avoids the well known scandals almost completely. Oh, the authors go over Whitewater, the options trading, and so on, but Hillary always gets a pass. For example, the problem with the options trading wasn't the fantastic series of trades, but that she was allowed to be under margin. They got a certificate from someone who said that options can payoff big, so Hillary gets a pass. Right. More believable would have been showing a similarly fantastic series of trades by anyone else. Ever. In the history of trading options.

But as I was getting worked up over the lack of discussion over the FBI files and so on, I finally realized what the I think the authors are doing. They don't want the book to get bogged down in the old muck. When they have solid and incontrovertible evidence about the Rose billing records, they present it. The case they slowly build is the fact that Hillary has a very poor track record in making good choices. Her instincts for secrecy and stonewalling, her willingness to misstate the facts, her tin ear for public relations, and sense of entitlement and arrogance all combine to demonstrate the kind of President she would be. In my mind, it adds up to a disqualification. However, the authors don't say that and others pre-disposed to praise her will likely conclude differently.

The authors are exquisite on displaying Hillary's maneuvering on 9/11, the Iraq war, and the way her political needs of the moment cause her to talk falsely about facts that are on the record and how hard she works to keep other facts from ever getting on the record or from being brought to public attention. This is the book's strongest material. It is this material that is most relevant to her run for President and I finally came to agree with the authors' choice to emphasize it and leave the old stuff out.

Whether you are for, against, or indifferent to Hillary, she is a major force in our present politics and you would do well to learn more about her. This book is among the best of the books written about her. I think it is the most relevant to her run for President.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI