The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton (Hardcover)

~ R.Emmett Tyrrell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

It should be said straight out that The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton is not for the politically fainthearted. It is about thinking the unthinkable--and making it seem plausible.... Mr. Tyrrell's book, which is part fact and part fiction, reminds us that there is more at stake here than mere media sensationalism or partisan bickering. It gathers together the key facts of a growing number of abuses of power--a constitutional matter. It pulls material from news reports, congressional hearings and subpoenaed documents. Then it moves forward to 1998 and shifts into a fictional mode, deftly creating possible political actions and media commentary, weaving a plausible and disturbing case for impeachment.... Is the evidence compelling? The book says, "You decide." What is engaging about The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton is the use of mystery and fantasy to draw the reader into examining the disturbing political question of impeachment. And there are reasons not to dismiss this "nonfiction novel" out of hand. -- The Wall Street Journal, Martin Anderson

Product Description

Readers confused by years of conflicting information would like nothing better than to have the Clinton scandals spelled out for them. How better to do this than by presenting the issues in the context of an impeachment trial--a "political science fiction" that projects what could happen, based on the facts we already know? This book does just that, dramatizing the events, using real-life characters appearing under their own names.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing (November 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895263963
• ISBN-13: 978-0895263964
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,336,085 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Exercise in Wishful Thinking, December 17, 1997

By	"temlakos1" (Short Hills, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

As a gigantic scoresheet on Bill Clinton's abuses of power and why people at least _ought to_ care about them, this book is right on target. But as a valid predictor of the future or a handbook for practical action, this book does not qualify. And as a novel, _Huckleberry Finn_ it isn't. It is, in the end, wishful thinking.

Tyrrell's major handicap is that he is trying to move from the realm of journalistic editorship to the realm of novel-writing, and simply doesn't have the skills for it. Simply put, Mark Twain he isn't. When I read a novel, I expect an in-depth study of the characters and the situation. I expect to be told not just _what_ the characters do, but _why_ they do it. And the "why" inevitably goes much deeper than "that Bill Clinton may be a scumbag, but he's _our_ scumbag," and is definitely more complicated than that.

But instead of depth of characterization and background, I get Barney Frank and Charles Schumer acting like Rush Limbaugh's favorite caricatures of them. I also get Sonny Bono behaving as though he were once again doing one of his television shows, instead of participating in arguably the most _serious business_ of all our lives--and again, with no explanation of Sonny's behavior. And I get thirteen Democratic "crossover Senators" who make the difference between "Guilty" and "Not Guilty" in the Senate--but with no, or scant, explanation of _why_ they cross over. Compare Tyrrell's Frank and Schumer with Twain's "King and Duke," and compare Tyrrell's Sonny Bono to Twain's Tom Sawyer, and you'll see what I mean.

I would certainly hope that the _real_ Bob Barr (who has just filed an impeachment resolution in the House in real life), the _real_ Henry Hyde, and the _real_ Orrin Hatch and Arlen Specter would make a better effort than this to (a) gather intelligence on the other side, and (b) make a coherent plan to win people over, through appeals to emotions either noble or ignoble. Tyrrell's book is not a plan. It is a wish. A wish that I myself will fully acknowledge sharing, but a wish nonetheless. And again, as a novel, it is far too pedestrian ever to take itself, or be taken, seriously.

The trouble is that I think Bill Clinton _should_ be impeached, and for the reasons that Tyrrell states, and for other actions and policies of his that are tantamount to treason. But by the time the professional book reviewers--which is to say, those who actually write novels for a living--get through with this book, they'll start such a drumbeat against it that the American people will lose its message in their disappointment in the finished work. And that's too bad for the country.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Republican Suicide Manual, January 16, 1999

By A Customer

Tyrrell must be a Democrat plant among the lunatic right. He writes this hilarious suicide scenario for the Republican party--Impeach the President!--and the fools actually follow it. Only, the Barrbarians and Hydethesalami don't build their case on Tyrrell's long, paranoid list of crimes and/or sins committed by that bad boy and Antichrist, Bill Clinton (now called William Jefferson Clinton to dignify his accusers). Why, they can't even catch the Evil One with his hand in the cookie jar. But they do catch him with his thing in an airhead, and by God, that's good enough for them! Off to trial they go with a case spun from whole cloth and fustian--mostly fustian--out of sex, sort of. Thus does the party of Lincoln, already descended to being the party of Nixon, morph into the Blow Job Party. Last one to leave turn out the lights. Neat book.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Couldn't Put it Down!, December 17, 1997

By A Customer

I expected this book to be an ultra-conservative raving against Clinton. Instead, I found it to be the best recap of every scandal (so far) that has swirled around Clinton. The fictional part is interspersed with copies of actual documents of prior hearings, White House memos, etc. This book should be required reading for all citizens, for them to see all in one place the myriad of abuses and coverups which we have allowed to happen due to our nonchalance and feeling of "everybody does it". The historical part of the book is irrefutable, and much of it are things I have never heard previously, or certainly never read about in the media!