Customer Reviews

On the Make: The Rise of Bill Clinton

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is, next to David Maraniss' bio, the best one available. Although Oakley spends too much time glorifying Arkansas Democrat Editor John Starr, she does present a look at Clinton from his home crowd, the people who have known him longer than anyone else. At times she seems almost jealous of Clinton's success. This remains, however, a definite book to read if you want to get inside Bill Clinton's head and stroll around for a while.

This bio of Clinton is not as easy to read as the Maraniss book; however, the effort to plough through it is well worth it. Because Oakley had covered Clinton for so many years, she offers far greater detail and insight into the inner workings of his years as governor. Sometimes she provides too much detail which, unless you are a true policy wonk, you may find tedious.

The result is an insightful and generally balanced view of our most gifted politician who is also a complicated and enigmatic man.

Great Bio. Here's an excerpt from page 68. Taken from a statement made by Clinton's friend, Clifford Jackson during their student days at Oxford. " One incident stands out very clearly in my mind," Jackson said. "We were talking about politics. Bill recounted a story he told to be true. He had heard a ... staff member telling about a White House secretary walking into the Oval Office...to find Lyndon Johnson and a certain attractive young woman...engaged in sex on the Oval office floor. She was on top of the president ,and she had a peace symbol on a chain dangling between her breasts." Jackson recalled the look of amusement on Clinton's face as the anecdote unfolded." Sure..it was a funny story...but the impression I got was that Bill thought it was so neat that Johnson could get away with something like that."

So, as I said, great book!