Living History

Additional Living History Information

Hillary Rodham Clinton is known to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Yet few beyond her close friends and family have ever heard her account of her extraordinary journey. She writes with candor, humor and passion about her upbringing in suburban, middle-class America in the 1950s and her transformation from Goldwater Girl to student activist to controversial First Lady. Living History is her revealing memoir of life through the White House years. It is also her chronicle of living history with Bill Clinton, a thirty-year adventure in love and politics that survives personal betrayal, relentless partisan investigations and constant public scrutiny.

Hillary Rodham Clinton came of age during a time of tumultuous social and political change in America. Like many women of her generation, she grew up with choices and opportunities unknown to her mother or grandmother. She charted her own course through unexplored terrain -- responding to the changing times and her own internal compass -- and became an emblem for some and a lightning rod for others. Wife, mother, lawyer, advocate and international icon, she has lived through America's great political wars, from Watergate to Whitewater.

The only First Lady to play a major role in shaping domestic legislation, Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled tirelessly around the country to champion health care, expand economic and educational opportunity and promote the needs of children and families, and she crisscrossed the globe on behalf of women's rights, human rights and democracy. She redefined the position of First Lady and helped save the presidency from an unconstitutional, politically motivated impeachment. Intimate, powerful and inspiring, Living History captures the essence of one of the most remarkable women of our time and the challenging process by which she came to define herself and find her own voice -- as a woman and as a formidable figure in American politics.

What Customers Say About Living History:

Not as described, worthless depressing ridiculous book. I hope I could get my money back.

This book was a big surprise for me--I actually liked it very much. At times the book is kinda dry, but for the most part it flows pretty well. Whatever one thinks of Hillary's politics, one has to admit she has lived a very colorful, eventful,fascinating life. I don't believe the spin she put on her life, but I was still caught up in her story. It starts with her upbringing, through her college days, marriage to Bill, the governorship, and finally the White House and Senate. Her comments on the events of those days and Life With Bill is interesting, even if not entirely believable.

I wish Hillary had used a professional writer for this biography that encompasses a most difficult time in modern history.an account of Bill Clinton's youthful success as the governor of Arkansas to becoming the president and going down with Monica Lewinsky. Most of the time it seems that Hillary has just put her daily diary together but the part where she has to deal with the personal trauma of Bill's infidelity is very moving.

A fascinating and moving biography on one of the most interesting political figures of our time. Hilary Clinton is a hero and inspiration to all Americans.

It is one thing for a biographer to wave away the subject's failings, but coming from the autobiography, it reads as conceited. Clinton, however, appears to take credit for all the positive things that took place in her husband's presidency while trying hard to distance herself from things that have been blunders. Purely from a literary and historic point of view, when writing an autobiography/memoir, being humble goes a long way to endear you to the reader. Even if you believe that the other side is pure evil, something that's silly, writing at length about it is pointless given that it will not win anyone over who wasn't on your side from the beginning. It is one thing for a biographer to champion the subject of the book, quite another for an autobiographer to do the same. It is one thing to be proud of one's accomplishments, but quite another to star in your own Harry Potter novel with you as Hermione and Republicans as Dementors (and Star or Newt Gingrich as Voldermort) who may have been quite literary responsible, according to Clinton, for killing your friends by stress. And as far as personal stories are concerned, the writing felt stilted, forced, as if Clinton was struggling with whether to include any personal stories at all. It is interesting piece of Americana, but nothing is here that one cannot get from Bill Clinton's much better (in comparison and despite its length) autobiography, i.e., "My Life." Perhaps if she hadn't used ghostwriters, it'd be better; or given them partial credit, since it would have been easier to explain literary shortcomings of the book.