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What Happened Hardcover – September 12, 2017
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Hillary Rodham Clinton
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“In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net. Now I’m letting my guard down.” —Hillary Rodham Clinton, from the introduction of What Happened
For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. This is her most personal memoir yet.
In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward. With humor and candor, she tells readers what it took to get back on her feet—the rituals, relationships, and reading that got her through, and what the experience has taught her about life. She speaks about the challenges of being a strong woman in the public eye, the criticism over her voice, age, and appearance, and the double standard confronting women in politics.
She lays out how the 2016 election was marked by an unprecedented assault on our democracy by a foreign adversary. By analyzing the evidence and connecting the dots, Hillary shows just how dangerous the forces are that shaped the outcome, and why Americans need to understand them to protect our values and our democracy in the future.
The election of 2016 was unprecedented and historic. What Happened is the story of that campaign and its aftermath—both a deeply intimate account and a cautionary tale for the nation.
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Print length512 pages
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherSimon & Schuster
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Publication dateSeptember 12, 2017
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Dimensions6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
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ISBN-101501175564
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ISBN-13978-1501175565
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Editorial Reviews
Review
—The New York Times
“What Happened is a raw and bracing book, a guide to our political arena.”
—The Washington Post
“The writing in What Happened is engaging — Clinton is charming and even funny at times, without trying to paint herself in too flattering of a light…. Ultimately, the book might be a historical artifact most of all — the chronicling of what, exactly, it was like to run for president as the first woman major-party candidate (and, yes, a Clinton as well). Plenty may disagree with Clinton’s opinions on what went wrong for her, but her story will still be an important part of that history when America looks back on the melee that was the 2016 election.”
—NPR
“An engaging, beautifully synthesized page-turner.”
—Slate
“Here is Clinton at her most emotionally raw.... While What Happened records the perspective of a pioneer who beat an unprecedented path that stopped just shy of the White House, it also covers territory that many women will recognize.... She demonstrates that she can mine her situation for humor.”
—People
“What Happened is not a standard work of this genre. It’s interesting; it’s worth reading; and it sets out questions that the press, in particular, has not done enough to face.”
—The Atlantic
“Engaging... witty, and useful.”
—The New York Review of Books
“A disturbing autopsy on the state of America today. What Happened is an urgent plea directed not only to those concerned about America’s capacity to survive, but also to all who are anxious about protecting America’s international contributions to human health.”
—The Lancet
“This is an important book, and anyone who’s worried by what happened last November 8 should pick it up.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Contains... insights into Ms. Clinton’s personality, character, and values, and the challenges confronting women in politics.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“The most useful way to read What Happened is as one last instance of Clinton doing what she calls her civic duty.”
—Los Angeles Times
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; First Edition (September 12, 2017)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 512 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1501175564
- ISBN-13 : 978-1501175565
- Item Weight : 1.45 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
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Best Sellers Rank:
#56,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #65 in Elections
- #65 in Civics & Citizenship (Books)
- #152 in United States Executive Government
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman in US history to become the presidential nominee of a major political party in 2016. She served as the 67th Secretary of State—from January 21, 2009, until February 1, 2013—after nearly four decades in public service advocating on behalf of children and families as an attorney, First Lady, and Senator. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Understandably losing something you strived for so desperately is crushing and I felt bad for her. I really believe she thought there was no way she would lose to someone like Donald Trump. She didn’t see defeat barreling toward her, didn’t realize no one trusted her, didn’t step outside her haughty brilliance to notice the large crowds at Trump rallies, nor did she seem to catch on that though the tone of Trump’s delivery was harsh vernacular, he was saying what many were thinking.
But it’s all over now. You lost. you’ve had your whine. Get over yourself and move on.
Oh, and Hillary,I wouldn’t bring up that lying thing...Clinton’s should not throw stones in that direction.
In the first chapter, she observes, “Something is wrong. How could sixty-two million people vote for someone they heard on tape bragging about repeated sexual assault? How could he attack women, immigrants, Muslims, Mexican Americans, prisoners of war, and people with disabilities---and still be elected to the most important and powerful job in the world?... Why did the media decide to present the controversy over my emails as one of the most important political stories since the end of World War II? How did I let that happen? How did we?” (Pg. 15)
She notes, “my opponents spun wild tales about … how as President I would be forever in the pocket of the shadowy bankers who had paid my speaking fees… That was a mistake… I shouldn’t have assumed it would be okay for me to do it. Especially after the financial crisis of 2008-2009, I should have… stayed away from anything having to do with Wall Street. I didn’t. That’s on me.” (Pg. 45-46)
She states, “I understand that political coverage has to be about the horse race, but it’s become almost entirely about that and not about the issues that matter most to our country and to people’s lives. That’s something that has gotten increasingly worse over the years. That’s not entirely the press’s fault: the way we consume news has changed, which makes getting clicks all important, which in turn encourages sensationalism. Still, they’re responsible for their part.” (Pg. 99)
She points out, “This has to be said: sexism and misogyny played a role in the 2016 presidential election. Exhibit A is that the flagrantly sexist candidate won… But Donald Trump didn’t invent sexism, and its impact on politics goes far beyond this one election… Sexism exerts its pull in our politics and our society every day, in ways both subtle and crystal clear.” (Pg. 114) She continues, “It’s not easy to be a woman in politics… It can be excruciating, humiliating. The moment a woman steps forward and says, ‘I’m running for office,’ it begins: the analysis of her face, her body, her demeanor…. It can be unbelievably cruel.” (Pg. 116) Later, she adds, “It’s not easy for any woman in politics, but I think it’s safe to say that I got a whole other level of vitriol flung my way… I’ve been in politics for a long time, but I was taken aback by the flood of hatred that seemed only to grow as we got closer to Election Day.” (Pg. 126)
She states, “‘Change’ might be the most powerful word in American politics… In 1992 and 2008, ‘change’ meant electing dynamic young leaders who promised hope and renewal. In 2016, it meant handing a lit match to a pyromaniac.” (Pg. 195)
She recalls, “We had settled on Stronger Together as our theme for the general election after a lot of thought and discussion… My team… had started with three basic contrasts we wanted to draw with Trump… He was divisive, while I would work to bring the country together. The challenge was to find a way to marry all three together in a memorable slogan that reflected my values and record. Stronger Together did that better than anything else we could think of.” (Pg. 254)
She recounts, “you’ve most likely already heard more than your fill about my emails… For months after the election, I tried to put it all out of my mind. It would do me no good to brood over my mistake. And it wasn’t healthy or productive to dwell on the ways I felt I’d been shivved by then-FBI Director Jim Comey—three times over the final five months of the campaign.” (Pg. 290) She acknowledges, “let me say again that, yes, the decision to use personal email instead of an official government account was mine and mine alone. I own that. I never meant to mislead anyone, never kept my email use secret, and always took classified information seriously… Mostly, I was furious at myself…” (Pg. 291-292) She continues, “31,000 of the emails I had were personal and not related in any way to my job as Secretary of State… But these messages also included… reports from family and friends about things happening in their personal lives… clearly private personal content. Naturally I didn’t want strangers reading them. So we checked to make sure we were following the rules, providing every relevant email I had, and deleted the personal ones.” (Pg. 300)
She adds, “Comey said that although … I had not violated the law… [we] were nevertheless ‘extremely careless.’ … I was angry and frustrated that Comey had used his public position to criticize me, my staff… with no opportunity for us to counter or disprove the charge… My first instinct was that my campaign should hit back hard and explain to the public that Comey had badly overstepped his bounds… My team raised concerns with that kind of confrontational approach. In the end, we decided it would be better to just let it go and try to move on. Looking back, that was a mistake.” (Pg. 310-311) She adds, “Why did Comey do it?... I can’t know what was in Comey’s head… What I do know, though, is that when you’re the head of an agency as important as the FBI, you have to care a lot more about how things really are than how they look, and you have to be willing to take the heat that goes along with the big job.” (Pg. 316)
She suggests, “If you add together all these factors---Trump’s affection for tyrants and hostility toward allies, sympathy for Russia’s strategic aims, and alleged financial ties to shady Russian actors---his pro-Putin rhetoric starts to make sense… Republican national security experts were appalled by Trump’s embrace of Putin. So was I.” (Pg. 337) About the Russian cyberattacks in 2016, she states, “I understand the predicament the Obama administration faced… And President Obama did privately warn Putin directly to back off. I do wonder sometimes about what would have happened if President Obama had made a televised address to the nation in the fall of 2016 warning that our democracy was under attack. Maybe more Americans would have woken up to the threat in time. We’ll never know.” (Pg. 356) She adds, “This man [Trump] is President of the United States. And no one is happier than Vladimir Putin.” (Pg. 374)
As she and her team watched the election returns, “Now it was slipping away. I felt shell-shocked. I hadn’t prepared mentally for this at all. There had been no doomsday scenarios playing out in my head in the final days, no imagining what I might say if I lost. I just didn’t think about it. But now it was as real as it could be, and I was struggling to get my head around it… I could barely breathe.” (Pg. 385)
She summarizes, “I do think it’s fair to say there was a fundamental mismatch between how I approach politics and what a lot of the country wanted to hear in 2016… When people are angry and looking for someone to blame, they don’t want to hear your ten-point plan to create jobs and raise wages. They want you to be angry too… Moreover, I have come to terms with the fact that a lot of people… decided they just didn’t like me… It hurts. And it’s a hard thing to accept. But there’s no getting around it.” (Pg. 398-399) She adds, “Comey made a choice to excoriate me in public in July and then dramatically reopen the investigation on October 28, all while refusing to say a word about Trump and Russia. If not for those decisions, everything would have been different. Comey later said that he was ‘mildly nauseous’ at the idea that he influenced the outcome of the election. Hearing that made me sick.” (Pg. 406)
There is, or course, much, MUCH more to read and digest in this detailed, revealing, and illuminating memoir. It will be “must reading” for anyone who wishes to analyze the 2016 election, and its aftermath…
* Democrat talking points
* I love my daughter and my mother and my grandkids. They are so wonderful. Oh, and my dad too, I guess. And Bill's really an OK guy.
* Everyone else is a jerk: Donald, Bernie, Comey, the FBI, the Russians, the Republicans, the media, white women--make that any woman who didn't vote for me because, well, you know, because I'm a woman.
* People who voted for Trump really are deplorable. No seriously, I mean it. Geesh, Trump groped a woman. That makes people who support him deplorable, doesn't it?
* I wanted to talk about issues but everyone else wanted to talk about how incompetent I am with email.
There was so much in this book that had nothing to do with "What Happened" and so little to do with what actually did happen.
The way she blamed everyone else, a better title would have been, "The Buck Starts Here".
Top reviews from other countries
I found myself skimming through long sugary sections of self praise, how wonderful The Clintons are, how they have done so much good for the world and how many people she has hugged.
The book opens with self praise for her bravery in facing the fact that lost the campaign, and as many other reviewers have pointed out, she goes on to seek to place blame on just about every one else.
I suppose I found out a little about the American political system, a topic in which I have never previously been interested.
There is much reference to how she has fought for and cried with underprivileged groups of people - more descriptions of hugging, and yet most of one chapter is taken up by describing how her team of personal beauticians travel everywhere with her.
I struggled to finish this book, which I suspect will be available in most charity shops.
On the positive side, she shares her hopes and fears, writing passionately about the need for gun-control, health care, the racial issues which bedevil American society. And, most of all, feminism. Her calls to action and advocacy are so vital, so important, I immediately bought a copy for my 14 year old daughter. She writes of her experience as a daughter, a wife, a mother and grandmother, and the challenges she and those around her faced and still face as women. Unputdownable.
Bought the book as a response to some of the most ridiculous attacks from some rather obnoxious individuals.
Reading it though was so worthwhile - to find a politician interested in improving the lot of folks in the USA.
The full detail of the players in the election shows Mrs Clinton up against unprecedented odds and still won the popular vote.
Why comment from the UK ? Because the kind of distorting abuse sustained by Mrs Clinton in your election is now being visited upon female elected Members of our Parliament here with some word for word copies.
Your statement about Forward Together has resonance here too. Best wishes.










