Monica's Story [Hardcover]

Andrew Morton (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 4, 1999

Imagine that you are twenty-four years old and have been confiding in one of your closest friends about your on-again, off-again relationship with a married man twice your age. Then imagine your name is Monica Lewinsky, the man's name is Bill Clinton, and your friend's name is Linda Tripp--who has secretly tape-recorded your confidences and passed the tapes along to Kenneth Starr. Suddenly you find yourself surrounded by government agents who threaten you with twenty-seven years in jail if you do not tell them every detail of your private life and cooperate fully in their investigation of the President.

In the summer of 1995, Monica Lewinsky, then twenty-one years old and fresh out of college, went to work as an unpaid intern at the White House. What happened next, as a vivacious young woman's "crush" on her boss led to her public humiliation and the impeachment of the President of the United States, has been documented in shocking detail.

But have we heard the true story? Betrayed by Linda Tripp, Monica found herself a pawn in the power struggle between President Clinton and the Office of the Independent Counsel. As she waited to face the grand jury investigating the President, the media conducted its own trial of Monica, while her legal predicament prevented her from telling the world what really happened.

Monica's Story at last sets the record straight. Drawing on his exclusive conversations with Monica, her family, and her friends, bestselling biographer Andrew Morton paints a complex and compelling portrait of a generous-hearted but troubled young woman whose dreams of romance had unimaginable consequences.

Monica was compelled to answer the grand jury's questions, but it was to Andrew Morton that she unfolded the whole story of her experiences before, during, and after the White House scandal. The result is a candid, intimate biography of a young woman whose life holds some surprising secrets--and whose public image is very different from the private truths revealed in these pages.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Though it's a legal document, the Starr Report, published in late 1998, reads like a racy novel about the most powerful man in the world, President Bill Clinton, and a young intern, Monica Lewinsky, who's portrayed as a spoiled Beverly Hills brat performing oral sex on the president while he talked to colleagues on the telephone.

Andrew Morton, the author of Diana: Her True Story, spent several months interviewing Lewinsky after the scandal broke; the result is Monica's Story, which asserts that the picture the Starr Report paints of Lewinsky is totally incorrect. Morton believes she and the president had an emotional, mutually satisfying relationship, which, if circumstances had been different, would probably have remained secret. Although he covers much of the same territory as the Starr Report, he adds details of conversations Lewinsky and Clinton had in an attempt to show the depth of the relationship. In chapters with titles like "Grunge, Granola, and Andy" and "Terror in Room 1012," he paints a portrait of a "child-woman" who is sexually liberated but also intelligent, loving, and well mannered. "[She] could be anybody's sister," he insists, "anybody's daughter."

The book is most interesting, however, in its descriptions of the political intrigue, lies, and deception resulting from Kenneth Starr's investigation. Leading the evil band is Linda Tripp, described as a black-hearted, shameless manipulator who betrayed Lewinsky and spurred the scandal for her own personal gain (she was planning to write a book about Clinton). He also examines the media's hatred for Lewinsky--particularly that of women writers who became obsessed with her weight and body shape. "Just as the O.J. Simpson trial exposed the racial fault line running through American society," he argues, "so the Monica Lewinsky saga has spotlighted the underlying misogyny that still permeates American life." Monica's Story is gripping stuff--porn, fantasy, farce, political commentary, and tragedy all rolled into one. --Dale Kneen, Amazon.co.uk

From the Publisher

Monica Lewinsky has been at the center of the most sensational political storm of our time...yet she has not said one word publicly about the scandal.

Now, in MONICA'S STORY, Andrew Morton can reveal the real Monica Lewinsky behind the sordid headlines. Like Morton's bestselling DIANA: HER TRUE STORY, the book will be based on long, tape-recorded interviews with the subject, her family and friends.

MONICA'S STORY will be published the same week the she finally breaks her silence in a special Barbara Walters interview, in late February. According to the New York Times, the two have already met:
"She is well-spoken. She is intelligent," Ms. Walters told The New York Times, "There's a lot not in the record--what this year has been like for her, what it felt like when the president made his statements, her reaction, her views on the various people involved, the jokes."

WE'VE HEARD FROM CLINTON, STARR, CONGRESS AND THE PUNDITS. NOW IT'S TIME FOR MONICA'S STORY.

Jacket photo by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (March 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312240910
• ISBN-13: 978-0312240912
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Clinton, Bill

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing look at this puzzle from another perspective. March 28, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Not well-written, but a very interesting account of the whole Monica/Bill/Ken Starr story. I needed to hear her version and learn more about what went into the making of a young woman who could dare such a dangerous and foolish liaison. She also provides interesting insights into Bill Clinton, though we see him through her filters of course. I tend to believe much of what she says about their relationship, that it was more than sexual and that they felt like soul-mates, irresistably drawn to each other (as opposed to mere dalliance). What she didn't understand was that she would always be on the losing end. It is sad to hear her recount the many nights and weekends she sat by the phone, putting her own life on hold, in the hope that he would call. It's the classic scenario for the unmarried woman in love with a married and very busy man. She lived for the crumbs because they were so delicious, but they weren't enough to nourish and sustain her; you can't make a life out of crumbs.

The whole business with Ken Starr's staff is truly frightening and I wanted to hear the details in her own voice. Until I read this account, I hadn't fully understood the depth of the fear that she and her entire family lived in as a result of the investigation and intimidation by the FBI and the Office of Special Prosecutor (OSP). She was a pawn in the Right Wing/Ken Starr's vendetta against the President.

In a moral sense, nothing that Monica did justified the treatment she received by the OSP, the FBI, and the destruction of her life and her family's by the media. She had been unthinking, and possibly uncaring, about the hurt she was potentially causing Clinton's wife and daughter, foolish in talking about the relationship with others, and certainly out of touch with reality, and petulant at times, in her demands upon the President. Monica made mistakes, big ones, but she is not alone. What really bothers me is the way so many people have used the media to judge, dissect and ridicule this young woman and her family. At times like these, we come across as a mean-spirited and hypocritical society. I am grateful that the general public opinion realized that what happened between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky was basically a private matter and, while it was wrong, was not the major offense against the nation Congress tried to make it.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sheds a different light on the whole scandal February 25, 2002

By J. E. Nelson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This is the infamous book on Monica Lewinsky, the President's mistress.

While the reason that I picked up this book was because I didn't have anything else handy to read, I surprisingly found the book a fascinating read. The book does not cover the scandal as much as the people behind the scandal. The book portrays Ms. Lewinsky as a lost young woman who happened to fall in love with a married man, who happened to be the president. Ms. Lewinsky portrays President Clinton not as the womanizer Judge Starr and the media portrayed him as, but as a man, who had a poor marriage and was lonely. Judge Starr was portrayed not as the man looking for truth and justice as I though he was, but as a cold, thoughtless person only looking after his own personal, political agenda.

The only downfall to the book is that everyone knows how the story ends. However, I became so engrossed in the book because it focused on the people of the scandal, not the scandal itself. It changed how I thought about the major players in the whole affair.

While I found the book fascinating, the book is not for everyone. The story is yesterday's news, and many people would rather the whole thing just went away. However, if you want to see the scandal from a point of view other than the mass media's, I would highly recommend this book.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Light & Easy to Read April 19, 2002

By John G. Hilliard

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Reading this book almost made me feel as if I was looking through a tabloid. To be honest I really only scanned the parts where she was with Clinton and the treatment she received by the FBI and her "friend" Linda. We all know the sorted details; the one part I do not think we all have a good view of is the treatment the FBI dished out. Do I want them to act this way with a terrorist or a Mafia Don - ok, but come on, with this young lady and her mother? I felt it was a bit over the top and an abuse of power. Also the trustworthiness of Linda should be called in question based on the stunts she pulled her. She was looking for the fast track to fame.

Overall this is an interesting, gossipy book that gives a different view of the situation then you may have received just watching the nightly news. The book is light and fast making it a very easy to read book.