In a provocative and candid new memoir, the former president speaks out on his own personal life and public service, looking back over his triumphs and failures, and exploring the evolution of the American political arena over the past four decades. 1,500,000 first printing.
The former president looks back on his life and career, discussing his youth and education, his early public service, his years as governor of Arkansas, and his accomplishments during two terms in the White House.
President Bill Clinton's My Life is the 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 an American, who, through his own energies and efforts, made the journey from Hope, Arkansas, to the White House.
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 understanding of the practicalities of political life.
President Clinton's book is also a detailed, nuanced account of a presidency - 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 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.
