Seeing this book for sale for $4 in an opportunity shop in October 2018 was too good a bargain to refuse. I always enjoy a good biography and had always found Clinton an interesting, albeit flawed, person (but then, aren't we all?).
I enjoyed 80% of it, especially his reminiscences of his early years, his first forays into the world of politics, his time as Attorney General and then Governor of Arkansas and his eventual road to the White House. By way of balance, I found the second half of the book more laboured as he sought to justify his failings and to elaborate his achievements.
What did come through clearly, however, was the humanity and basic decency of the man. Even at the end, he has few bad words for his political foes who used every dirty trick in the book to ruin both his reputation and his presidency, and to stand in the way of his achievements while President. He stands tall but they stand low as grubby, dishonest and opportunistic.
History now shows that he presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history and that he signed into law much ground breaking legislation. Clinton left office with the highest end-of-office approval rating of any U.S. president since World War II, and has continually scored high in the historical rankings of U.S. presidents, consistently placing in the top third. The same will not be said of Trump!
To his credit, in this book he is willing to provide an honest and open account of his life, allowing readers to witness his struggle to "drain the most out of every moment" while maintaining the character with which he was raised. It is a remarkably intimate, persuasive look at the boy he was, the President he became, and man he is today. (Daphne Durham)
Highly recommended as a political biography and as a case study of a man of substance.
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