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My Life
Author: Bill Clinton
Binding: Softcover, 1,024
pages
Publisher: Arrow (June 2005)
ISBN: 0099441357
Price: RM64.90
Synopsis
President Bill Clinton's My Life is
the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to
devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for
hard work, to serving the public.
It shows us the progress of a remarkable American, who, through his own enormous
energies and efforts, made the unlikely journey from Hope, Arkansas, to the
White House--a journey fueled by an impassioned interest in the political
process which manifested itself at every stage of his life: in college, working
as an intern for Senator William Fulbright; at Oxford, becoming part of the
Vietnam War protest movement; at Yale Law School, campaigning on the grassroots
level for Democratic candidates; back in Arkansas, running for Congress,
attorney general, and governor.
We see his career shaped by his resolute determination to improve the life of
his fellow citizens, an unfaltering commitment to civil rights, and an
exceptional understanding of the practicalities of political life.
We come to understand the emotional pressures of his youth--born after his
father's death; caught in the dysfunctional relationship between his feisty,
nurturing mother and his abusive stepfather, whom he never ceased to love and
whose name he took; drawn to the brilliant, compelling Hillary Rodham, whom he
was determined to marry; passionately devoted, from her infancy, to their
daughter, Chelsea, and to the entire experience of fatherhood; slowly and
painfully beginning to comprehend how his early denial of pain led him at times
into damaging patterns of behavior.
President Clinton's book is also the fullest, most concretely detailed, most
nuanced account of a presidency ever written--encompassing not only the high
points and crises but the way the presidency actually works: the day-to-day
bombardment of problems, personalities, conflicts, setbacks, achievements.
It is a testament to the positive impact on America and on the world of his work
and his ideals.
It is the gripping account of a president under concerted and unrelenting
assault orchestrated by his enemies on the Far Right, and how he survived and
prevailed.
It is a treasury of moments caught alive, among them:
The ten-year-old boy watching the
national political conventions on his family's new (and first) television set.
The young candidate looking for votes in the Arkansas hills and the local seer
who tells him, "Anybody who would campaign at a beer joint in Joiner at midnight
on Saturday night deserves to carry one box.... You'll win here. But it'll be
the only damn place you win in this county." (He was right on both counts.)
The roller-coaster ride of the 1992 campaign.
The extraordinarily frank exchanges with Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole.
The delicate manipulation needed to convince Rabin and Arafat to shake hands for
the camera while keeping Arafat from kissing Rabin.
The cost, both public and private, of the scandal that threatened the
presidency.
Here is the life of a great national and international figure, revealed with all
his talents and contradictions, told openly, directly, in his own completely
recognizable voice. A unique book by a unique American.
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