Hillary Clinton Nude: Naked Ambition, Hillary Clinton And America's Demise [Paperback]

Sheldon Filger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2006

"Hillary Clinton Nude: Naked Ambition, Hillary Clinton and America's Demise" is a blockbuster literary exploration of the most controversial politician in America. Stripping away the veils of imagery which mask the imperfections of Hillary Rodham Clinton, "Hillary Clinton Nude" presents a non-partisan yet passionate case against a second Clinton presidency. Author Sheldon Filger has written a bombshell of a political book, conveying a warning to the American people of the dire risks to the nation's continuity should the former First Lady succeed in fulfilling her ultimate political ambition. More than just another Hillary Clinton book, "Hillary Clinton Nude" is a sobering commentary on the state of American politics in the new century, and the influence of money, image making and celebrity power in the debasement of meaningful political discussion in the United States. Democrats, Republicans and independent voters will discover much to reflect on in this incisive and revealing book. The 2008 presidential elections may be among the most decisive in America's post-war history. Do not go to the polls without arming yourself with the knowledge found in Sheldon Filger's incisive book, "Hillary Clinton Nude."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sheldon Filger, an American-Canadian writer, has previously written books on such diverse topics as nuclear terrorism and female sensuality. "Hillary Clinton Nude" is his first book involving American politics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (October 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1425967590
• ISBN-13: 978-1425967598
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,119,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Essential insights, but with some weaknesses, December 31, 2006

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hillary Clinton Nude: Naked Ambition, Hillary Clinton And America's Demise (Paperback)

Like another reviewer, I was contacted by author Sheldon Filger and invited to read and review "Hillary Clinton Nude." This is a valuable addition to the shelf of books about HRC. While it has a number of significant weaknesses, this volume also has significant strengths. It's up to the individual reader to decide how best to balance the two.

Perhaps paradoxically, "Hillary Clinton Nude" is both passionate and dispassionate: passionate in the strength of the language, in the author's commitment to his principles and beliefs, and in his conviction that the election of President Hillary Rodham Clinton would be an unmitigated disaster for the United States. At the same time, though, Filger is dispassionate in that he -- unlike many other writers on HRC -- is not a member of the fabled "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy." In fact, the vituperation Filger directs at Hillary is rivaled only by the scorn he directs at George W. Bush. "Hillary Clinton Nude" cannot, therefore, be dismissed as a GOP hit-piece or a brief on behalf of some other, competing, presidential candidate.

The author makes a persuasive case that lacking any demonstrable skills, training, opinions, or even basic understanding of the vital issues of economics and international relations, the only thing HRC can build a presidential campaign on is nostalgia for her husband's years in office. As Slick Willie's most attentive student, Hillary is mastering, Filger argues, the Clintonian Method of obfuscation, name-calling, smoke-and-mirrors, and (especially) a highly selective use of history, including but not limited to outright lies about facts, situations, and people.

Sheldon Filger is committed to setting the record straight, and so devotes considerable ink to laying out the facts about half-forgotten Clintonian scandals like the White House travel office firings, Hillary's commodities-futures windfall, Pardongate, and of course, Monica and impeachment. Of course, Filger thereby leaves himself open to the Clinton-defenders' time-tested charge that he is "obsessing over old news" while HRC herself is focused on the future. Given Filger's thesis of the importance of Clinton-nostalgia to HRC's own presidential hopes, however, I think he's done exactly the right thing.

As I said, however, this book also has a number of weaknesses. Some of them, I admit, are matters of taste. But there are substantive omissions as well.

For one thing, Filger's prose is, if not purple, certainly redolent of lavender: "Given the constellation of storm clouds gathering on the horizon of the new century, having a mediocre and politically ambitious megalomaniac figure making the key decisions of state is an alignment with catastrophe. It is also a rash gamble with history. If, indeed, the contemporary world resembles the apocalyptic dynamics that existed in the summer of 1914, then the admixture of nuclear armaments portents [sic] a cataclysm that will be vastly more devastating to humanity" (p. 179).

As another matter of taste, I wasn't thrilled by the cover illustration by Molly Crabapple. It makes it too easy for critics to dismiss the whole book as an unattractive hit piece while ignoring the substance within. Certainly, I'm not going to leave this just sitting around on my desk at work.

Among the substantive topics Filger doesn't address, one key one is Hillary's alleged "move to the center" in the Senate. It seems obvious that this is part of Clinton's decades-long effort to disguise her true radicalism, but it will also be a centerpiece of her presidential campaign. A discussion of this question would seem to be in order.

Most fundamentally, I did not come away from this book with a clear idea of whether Filger believes that, deep down in her soul, Hillary really *believes* in anything more than her own ambition. For the vital distinction, I've always believed, between Pudge and Ruffles (wish I could remember who coined those nicknames) is that whereas he is an opportunist with no firm beliefs, Hillary is a true ideological warrior.

Other writers, from Barbara Olsen to R.E. Tyrrell, have done great work tracing Hillary's growth as what Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn described as a "Christian Social Romantic." In this understanding, HRC's Methodist upbringing was filtered through the tactical genius of Saul Alinsky to create a person driven by a true spiritual fanaticism. I think this is the only real explanation for HRC's distinctive drive, her determination not just to confront, but ultimately to destroy, anyone who disagrees with her or opposes her utopian vision: she sees them, in a very real sense, as fundamentally, theologically, evil. I believe that this is the key to understanding Hillary Clinton. I'm not sure, though, whether Sheldon Filger agrees.

Finally, I need to point out that this book lacks footnotes, endnotes, bibliography, and index. Clearly a lot of research went into preparing this, but it is impossible for a reader to track the author's sources.

This is a quite long review because I appreciate the author's request for my opinion of his work. What Sheldon Filger has produced is a strong, well-argued, and unquestionably important book. With some work on what I consider the book's shortcomings, a second edition could easily warrant four or even five stars.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful Look at a Serious Subject, November 8, 2006

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hillary Clinton Nude: Naked Ambition, Hillary Clinton And America's Demise (Paperback)

In the interests of full disclosure, I was sent a copy of this book by the author and asked to review it. I'm glad he did becauise I probably would never have found it on my own. Books on Mrs. Clinton are plentiful. Some are hit pieces. Some are laudatory. This one is dispassionate and sobering.

Mr. Filger is no Right Wing writer (and therefore not a member of the vast Right Wing Conspiracy which was born from Mrs. Clinton's mouth in defense of her husband's filanderings).

One only has to read his take on the decision to go to war in Iraq and the execution of that war to understand that. George W. Bush, Richard Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are fully filigreed by Mr. Filger concerning their involvement in what he clearly considers was an egregous error... "America's invasion of Iraq in 2003 was anchored in neocon delusions. Born of the ambition of a reckless and ignorant man, under the influence of a narrow minded clique of bloodthirsty noncombatants and propelled by outright deception of the American people, the enterprise was doomed to failure." Is that plain enough for you?

Filger then goes on to show how Mrs. Clinton manuvered herself to be in support of the war for political reasons and how she has since that time somewhat inartfully tried to extract herself from that position.

Chapter and verse follow which trace Mrs. Clintons attitudes, deceptions, duplicity and ambition. It is sobering and it is delivered in such a way that one has no doubt as to it's veracity. Likewise sobering is his warning that if Mrs. Clinton's political ambitions triumph, the demise of America is assurred.

His final warning is chilling..."Should the American people in their rightousness render a decision in 2008 that reverses the pattern of the past twenty years, renewal and revival await a long-suffering nation. If however, the people fail to exercise their constitutional and civic duty at the ballot boxes with discretion and wisdom, thus allowing Hillary Rodham Clinton to triumph, only ruination and national demise can follow in her wake."

It will be worth your time to see how the author arrives at this conclusion. You may agree with it or not, however he will make you think about the matter seriously. As we all should.

Post Script: I would have preferred a different title and a different cover. This is a serious book which appears somewhat frivilous in it's appearance. Just my opinion.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars unfortunate editing, January 4, 2008

By 

Therese Schooley - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hillary Clinton Nude: Naked Ambition, Hillary Clinton And America's Demise (Paperback)

I do not "like" the Clintons, and feel that the U.S.A. may be better served by electing a president who is not related to the Clintons or the Bushes. We are not an aristocracy, after all, and the present circumstances in our country require a fresh and fiercely different approach. Thus, I came to this book as a Clinton basher myself and was hoping to find hard facts to offer up in conversation about Ms. Clinton, other than my own feeble "I don't trust her" or "something about her (or Bill) just doesn't sit right". While I have no doubt that the author is probably correct in almost everything he avers in this book, the lack of an index of resources seriously reduces the impact of his assertions. Anyone can write a smear, but a political commentary of this nature begs a solid footnoting at the very least. I further found I would not be able to share this book (I was looking for a book I could pass on to friends and say, "Here, see? This is why Hillary is not a good choice.") simply because of the extremely poor editing. The book is full of mis-spelled words and grammatical errors. (It's PROSTATE cancer, not PROSTRATE cancer, I mean, c'mon.) It is hard to take seriously a work that is so poorly presented. And the cover - oh, dear. Who made THAT decision? The cover alone detracts immediately from the idea that the author was serious in his intent. I may have agreed with most of what the author said, but the thought of anyone seeing this book on my coffee table is downright embarrassing.
So while I enjoyed the chance to bolster my own opinion, I would not lend the book out, nor would I recommend it. It reads so poorly, a fault, as I say, that I find with the editor, that I feel referencing it in any serious discussion would be impossible.
Perhaps the others who reviewed this book were too polite to bring these things up. I hope that is the case; the thought that so many people didn't even notice the glaring spelling, grammar and syntax errors would mean our educational system is in even worse shape than I feared.