A collection of original writings by women about Hillary Rodham Clinton as she heads into the 2008 Presidential campaign. The election is almost two years away, but Hillary has been in the public eye for twenty years, and there is no other politician who inspires such a wide range of passionate feelings, particularly among women. To some women she's a sellout who changed her name and her hairstyle when it suited her husband's career; to others she's a hardworking idealist with the political savvy to work effectively within the system. Where one person sees a carpetbagger, another sees a dedicated politician; where one sees a humiliated and long-suffering wife, another sees a dignified First Lady. Is she tainted by the scandals of her husband's presidency, or has she gained experience and authority from weathering his missteps? Cold or competent, overachiever or pioneer, too radical or too moderate, Hillary Clinton continues to overturn the assumptions we make about her. It is hard to imagine a political figure of more compelling interest right now.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Whatever your political leanings, you'll be alternately pleased and dismayed by the parade of highly intelligent contributors-including fiction author Lorrie Moore, New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean and Vanity Fair editor Leslie Bennetts-offering their views on presidential candidate and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Though many issues are covered, the most prevalent is the gender question: "I wish I could vote gender blind," says novelist and essayist Kathryn Harrison, but admits that, "everything else being equal, I will vote for a woman over a man." Rarely, if ever, has cookie-baking (or not baking), hairstyles and spouses been so often brought up in relation to a presidential candidate, but the question of authenticity dogs the every move of both Clinton and her critics; says Laura Kipnis, "the specter of loss looms at the moment, at least for men... So what gets spoken of instead? Well, hair for one thing." Elsewhere, Daphne Merkin looks at Bill and Hillary as a couple; Susan Cheever examines Clinton's list of favorite books; and Deborah Tannen explores the "damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't paradox of women in charge." Readers interested in Hillary, gender politics or the evolution of the presidential campaign should find this book fascinating.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Immensely satisfying and very entertaining.” (Tina Brown, author of The Diana Chronicles )
“A cascade of crackling insights about gender, marriage, work, and politics that yields genuine literary pleasure.” (Hendrik Hertzberg, author of Politics: Observations and Arguments )
“Intriguing…. These essays attest to the infinite subjectivity of people’s views, the pure relativism of perception….This volume of reflections corroborates Mrs. Clinton’s own long-ago observation that she is ‘a Rorschach test’ for voters.” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times )
“Pithy, imaginative, and bold essays by exceptionally shrewd women writers....In all, a discerning, engrossing dissection not only of a galvanizing figure but also of our conflicted feelings about women and power.” (Booklist )
“An unusually insightful and particularly well written collection.” (New York Daily News )
“The collection gathers strength as the variety and ferocity of opinions, insights, disappointments, and projections unfolds, often revealing more about the writers than about Hillary, and more about our warring notions of power, politics, and sex roles than it seems possible to hold in any brain at one time.” (Elizabeth Benedict, Huffington Post )
“This original collection features a stellar group of women writers.” (Newsday )
“A timely book of essays (or critiques, it often seems) written by many of today’s prominent women writers....the book is decidedly fluid....the contributors share a certain elegance in tone....the collection is a unique study and more insightful, if critical, than a general biography.” (Forbes.com )
“Clever, entertaining, provocative, and elegantly written.” (Newsweek )
“Thirty Ways does provide grist for thought....canny and thoughtful.” (New York Observer )
“An exhilaratingly honest collection of essays by many of the top writes of our time.” (More Magazine )
“Compelling....this book deserves your vote.” (Bust Magazine )
“[A] chewy must-read.” (Rush & Molloy, New York Daily News )
“These essays should be required reading for voters.” (Chicago Sun-Times )
“Impressive....reflective.” (New York Times Book Review )
“Well-written...thoughtful.” (Miami Herald )
“Everyone has an opinion about Senator Hillary Clinton....In Thirty Ways, notable contributors sound off about her...these witty, insightful voices struggle to get a grasp on this larger-than-life figure.” (Redbook Magazine )
“This timely collection of 30 original pieces by some of America’s most notable writers is a must read for anyone interested in this complex and controversial politician.” (The Standard (Ontario) )
“As these witty, insightful voices struggle to get a grasp on this larger-than-life figure, they expose how difficult a task that really is.” (Redbook Magazine )
“A cascade of crackling insights about gender, marriage, work, and politics that yields genuine literary pleasure.” (Hendrik Hertzberg, author of Politics: Observations and Arguments )
“Intriguing…. These essays attest to the infinite subjectivity of people’s views, the pure relativism of perception….This volume of reflections corroborates Mrs. Clinton’s own long-ago observation that she is ‘a Rorschach test’ for voters.” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times )
“Pithy, imaginative, and bold essays by exceptionally shrewd women writers....In all, a discerning, engrossing dissection not only of a galvanizing figure but also of our conflicted feelings about women and power.” (Booklist )
“An unusually insightful and particularly well written collection.” (New York Daily News )
“The collection gathers strength as the variety and ferocity of opinions, insights, disappointments, and projections unfolds, often revealing more about the writers than about Hillary, and more about our warring notions of power, politics, and sex roles than it seems possible to hold in any brain at one time.” (Elizabeth Benedict, Huffington Post )
“This original collection features a stellar group of women writers.” (Newsday )
“A timely book of essays (or critiques, it often seems) written by many of today’s prominent women writers....the book is decidedly fluid....the contributors share a certain elegance in tone....the collection is a unique study and more insightful, if critical, than a general biography.” (Forbes.com )
“Clever, entertaining, provocative, and elegantly written.” (Newsweek )
“Thirty Ways does provide grist for thought....canny and thoughtful.” (New York Observer )
“An exhilaratingly honest collection of essays by many of the top writes of our time.” (More Magazine )
“Compelling....this book deserves your vote.” (Bust Magazine )
“[A] chewy must-read.” (Rush & Molloy, New York Daily News )
“These essays should be required reading for voters.” (Chicago Sun-Times )
“Impressive....reflective.” (New York Times Book Review )
“Well-written...thoughtful.” (Miami Herald )
“Everyone has an opinion about Senator Hillary Clinton....In Thirty Ways, notable contributors sound off about her...these witty, insightful voices struggle to get a grasp on this larger-than-life figure.” (Redbook Magazine )
“This timely collection of 30 original pieces by some of America’s most notable writers is a must read for anyone interested in this complex and controversial politician.” (The Standard (Ontario) )
“As these witty, insightful voices struggle to get a grasp on this larger-than-life figure, they expose how difficult a task that really is.” (Redbook Magazine )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a fun book, though mixed. (Who cares if you think Hillary is a cat or a dog? or what she eats?) Roz Chast is Hillaryous. Leslie Bennetts' "Beyond Gender" is the longest essay and also the last, so many will never get to it. But it is a scathing, funny, thoughtful review of Hillary's career in the context of feminism's failure, thus far, to change archtypes, stereotypes, and monotypes. She catalogues how the public overlooks or forgives the sins of male politicians while demanding that women politicians conform to society's traditional view of the role of women.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Is there anyone who is neutral about Hillary Clinton? It isn't even as simple as you love her or you hate her, although there are plenty of people who do simply love her or hate her. Many of us want to like her or used to like her or liked her during the brief period between finding out about Bill's Oval Office tryst with an intern and the moment she uttered "vast right-wing conspiracy." Quite a few people would love to see a woman as president but can't bear the thought of that woman being Hillary Clinton. What is it about her? What is it about us?
Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary gathers thirty essays by women who think and write for a living. Most of the pieces here take the subject seriously, notwithstanding a trivial piece by Susan Orlean on whether Clinton is a cat person or a dog person and a mock high school yearbook page by Patricia Marx ("pet peeves: bad punctuation, martial law"). Some essays seem frivolous at first, but turn out to be quite thoughtful, such as Mimi Sheraton's look at Hillary through her taste in food and Lauren Collins on Clinton's apparent lack of hobbies.
Several writers have written about Hillary Clinton before and stand by their controversial opinions such as Robin Givhan on Clinton's cleavage. On the other hand, Judith Warner all but apologizes for her 1992 biography, Hillary Clinton: The Inside Story: Revised and Updated, which at least one reviewer called a hagiography.
There are no right-wing hit jobs in this collection, but Laura Kipnis does a survey of Hillary biographies (many of which fall into the hit job category) and finds they reveal more about the authors than about Clinton. Rebecca Mead examines how women presidents have been portrayed in movies and TV.
Deborah Tannen explores the double standard that women in authority face in the most even-handed piece in the book. Letty Cottin Pogrebin observes that for women leaders, widowhood is a plus. Susan Lehman speculates on how fifteen years as a corporate lawyer formed Clinton's outlooks and habits. Lara Vapnyar gives us the Russian view of women in power (not favorable).
The writers here ponder Clinton's name changes, her changes in appearance, her vote to go to war in Iraq. They consider her marriage, her career as a lawyer, and the compromises she's made as a politician. You may not come to any new conclusions about Clinton, but Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary will give you some original angles on a very provocative subject.
Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary gathers thirty essays by women who think and write for a living. Most of the pieces here take the subject seriously, notwithstanding a trivial piece by Susan Orlean on whether Clinton is a cat person or a dog person and a mock high school yearbook page by Patricia Marx ("pet peeves: bad punctuation, martial law"). Some essays seem frivolous at first, but turn out to be quite thoughtful, such as Mimi Sheraton's look at Hillary through her taste in food and Lauren Collins on Clinton's apparent lack of hobbies.
Several writers have written about Hillary Clinton before and stand by their controversial opinions such as Robin Givhan on Clinton's cleavage. On the other hand, Judith Warner all but apologizes for her 1992 biography, Hillary Clinton: The Inside Story: Revised and Updated, which at least one reviewer called a hagiography.
There are no right-wing hit jobs in this collection, but Laura Kipnis does a survey of Hillary biographies (many of which fall into the hit job category) and finds they reveal more about the authors than about Clinton. Rebecca Mead examines how women presidents have been portrayed in movies and TV.
Deborah Tannen explores the double standard that women in authority face in the most even-handed piece in the book. Letty Cottin Pogrebin observes that for women leaders, widowhood is a plus. Susan Lehman speculates on how fifteen years as a corporate lawyer formed Clinton's outlooks and habits. Lara Vapnyar gives us the Russian view of women in power (not favorable).
The writers here ponder Clinton's name changes, her changes in appearance, her vote to go to war in Iraq. They consider her marriage, her career as a lawyer, and the compromises she's made as a politician. You may not come to any new conclusions about Clinton, but Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary will give you some original angles on a very provocative subject.
By PunditMom
Format:Hardcover
I'm betting the editors of the recently released collection of essays called Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary were assuming the presidential political landscape would look a bit different today, at least from a marketing point of view.
If the primary race was over and Hillary had become the Democratic nominee after Super Tuesday, as many expected would happen, they probably sensed that this baby would be a best-seller.
There isn't a lot that's particularly revealing about Clinton in Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary. It's more a volume of essays about how the various authors feel about her and view her in ways (usually) not covered by the main stream media.
I was a little surprised at the critical and sometimes flip tone of some of the authors. Some of the essays ponder who is the real HRC? Is she a dog person or a cat person? Is she better or worse than Lady Macbeth? What did she like to snack on in the White House?
(Can you imagine the outcry if someone had written a similar volume about any of the men candidates?)
While entertaining and well-written, I'd like to look at Hillary in a 31st way.
What would her candidacy have looked like if she hadn't married Bill?
What if she had married someone else, kept her name and was still Hillary Rodham? If we take the Bill Clinton lens off the glasses through which we scrutinize Hillary, what would an objective look at her candidacy be? I have a feeling it would be much more charitable in terms of her experience, her personality and her judgment.
To be sure, there are plenty of more serious essays in the Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary, but I was saddened that the publisher was more concerned about having people write about Hillary's hobbies, or lack thereof, than taking a real look at this woman and what has propelled her to this place in life.
No, it wasn't meant to be a biography, but when we write about women candidates in this way, do we continue to diminish them, as well as ourselves?
If the primary race was over and Hillary had become the Democratic nominee after Super Tuesday, as many expected would happen, they probably sensed that this baby would be a best-seller.
There isn't a lot that's particularly revealing about Clinton in Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary. It's more a volume of essays about how the various authors feel about her and view her in ways (usually) not covered by the main stream media.
I was a little surprised at the critical and sometimes flip tone of some of the authors. Some of the essays ponder who is the real HRC? Is she a dog person or a cat person? Is she better or worse than Lady Macbeth? What did she like to snack on in the White House?
(Can you imagine the outcry if someone had written a similar volume about any of the men candidates?)
While entertaining and well-written, I'd like to look at Hillary in a 31st way.
What would her candidacy have looked like if she hadn't married Bill?
What if she had married someone else, kept her name and was still Hillary Rodham? If we take the Bill Clinton lens off the glasses through which we scrutinize Hillary, what would an objective look at her candidacy be? I have a feeling it would be much more charitable in terms of her experience, her personality and her judgment.
To be sure, there are plenty of more serious essays in the Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary, but I was saddened that the publisher was more concerned about having people write about Hillary's hobbies, or lack thereof, than taking a real look at this woman and what has propelled her to this place in life.
No, it wasn't meant to be a biography, but when we write about women candidates in this way, do we continue to diminish them, as well as ourselves?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Pantsuit Makes the Woman?
Whether you love Hillary or hate her, no doubt you've got a strong opinion about the woman. But the emotions evoked in you by Hillary Clinton probably speak less to Hillary's... Read more
Published on May 23, 2008 by Kelly Garbato
3.0 out of 5 stars
Average
I was a little bit shocked at the negative ways to look at Hillary Clinton, but there were some balanced articles, especially Dr. Read more
Published on February 25, 2008 by Catherine M. Peery
4.0 out of 5 stars
RELIEF 2008
I PERSONALLY LIKE HILLARY CLINTON BUT THIS BOOK GETS IT'S CREDIBILITY FROM THE FACT THAT THERE ARE PRO AND CON HILLARY REVIEWS. Read more
Published on February 3, 2008 by Jill D. Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun balanced read.....
Not a masterpiece but an interesting and fun read. And balance. Pro Hillary and not so pro Hillary views are shared. Read more
Published on January 24, 2008 by Beth DeRoos
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