The Starr Report: The Findings of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr on President Clinton and the Lewinsky Affair (Paperback)

~ Washington Post (Author), Kenneth W. Starr (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Here it is--the result of four years of investigative research, at an approximate cost of $40 million. Back in 1994, Kenneth Starr was appointed to investigate a series of investments made by Bill and Hillary Clinton; the Whitewater allegations never bore fruit, but then somebody whispered stories about the president and an intern named Monica Lewinsky into Starr's ear. He and his team of prosecutors sniffed around, and this is what they've come up with: "According to Ms. Lewinsky, she and the President had ten sexual encounters, eight while she worked at the White House and two thereafter." The details are bathetic in their precision: "during many of their sexual encounters," Starr notes, "the President stood leaning against the doorway of the bathroom across from the study, which, he told Ms. Lewinsky, eased his sore back." And yes, as far as we know, that was the president's semen on Monica's navy dress.

Whether or not it's the government's job to produce hackneyed narratives about young women who find themselves falling in love with powerful men is for voters to decide, but this story would be rejected outright by readers of Harold Robbins or Jackie Susann were it not for the newsworthy elements. Of course, there's also the second half of the report, in which Starr explains how Clinton's attempts to prevent his relationship with Lewinsky from becoming public knowledge constitute grounds for his impeachment. That's the part of the document that matters most from a political perspective ... but it's doubtful that it'll be the part that lingers in historical memory. (Note: You can also read the Starr report in electronic form for free at a number of locations on the Web, including the Library of Congress site and the commercial sites AOL.com, Netscape Netcenter, and Yahoo!)

From The New Yorker

...[The Starr Report] uses an obsessional voice to tell what is, in all other ways, a relentlessly ordinary story of adultery. A supposedly dispassionate account of a man's sins becomes so overwrought that the reader gradually realizes that the point of the story is not that the hero is wicked but that the narrator is mad.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (October 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189162024X
• ISBN-13: 978-1891620249
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (110 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #307,911 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an outstanding report, September 11, 2004

By	K. Dunlap (Afton, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was brought back to the Starr Report after reading and reviewing the 9/11 Commission Report. I found the 9/11 Report to be lacking as a legitimate investigative report: it was incomplete, imprecise, and full of statements which were arrived at through compromises between Republican members and Democrat members.

One reviewer who, like many, disliked the Starr Report, drew a comparison using the 9/11 Report as the model of a good report. Many reviewers of the Starr Report refer to it as sleazy, pornographic, etc. Obviously, those reviewers have no idea what an investigative report is supposed to be. An investigative report provides the information an attorney or prosecutor is going to use to prepare his case. It must report the findings; fully, accurately, and precisely. Imagine an investigator who writes a report on a brutal rape case. For the sake of prudence he chooses not to mention certain female body parts as well as acts that are either titillating or repulsive. That report would be a waste of time and effort.

Ken Starr's job was to investigate and report; fully, accurately, and precisely. The notion that he did not have to include some of the more lurid details is ridiculous. The investigator is not supposed to delete things he doesn't like or add things that seem nice (as 9/11 Commission did in some cases). That would be up to the prosecutor, in this case the house judiciary committee.

The Starr Report is an example of an investigator doing his job correctly. The criticisms that were reported by compliant media were nothing but an attempt to further demonize the investigator for the purpose of evoking sympathy for President Clinton. In that sense, it worked.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's about time the truth is shown to the public, October 19, 1998

By A Customer

I thought that the evidence that was presented in the report was astonishing. I thought it was great to see the truth finally start to come out.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars President's Sins Exceed Media Hype, January 6, 1999

By A Customer

The STARR REPORT is an exceptional treatise of the woeful behavior of a morally bankrupt president who lied, and with that lie, single-handedly--all by himself with no one else to blame--provoked the enormous expense incurred by the American taxpayer.

These liberal whiners who come to the president's defense and attack Ken Starr, only expose there own heathen beliefs and there pathetically little respect for the Constitution of the United States and the entire judicial system in so doing.

If this was ONLY about sex, they would make a network movie of the week out of it. It would not even qualify to be of the calibre for an HBO movie.

However, this is much more sinister than that--and for those sins, an arrogant, unrepentant, Bill Clinton owes the American people his resignation. Instead, Bill Clinton's smug double-speak only continues to "give the middle finger" to every American who demands equality and justice for all.

Bravo, Mr. Starr. Finally, an accurate, undeniable account of the character flaws and illegal activity of this president.

This book will be a classic text used in the classroom for years to come as we seek to teach about the scourage and alarming behavioral underbelly of those we trust to lead our children everyday in America.