Living
History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Published by Headline Book Publishing, 2003.
This
is an account of the world according to Hilary, her view of her
life as First Lady of the U.S.A. and wife to an incorrigible womanising
President. She also covers her childhood and coming of age during
the sixties. The sixties, as anyone who grew up then will remember,
was a time of turbulent change with the Vietnam War protests and
the growing Women’s Liberation Movement setting campuses in
turmoil throughout the States. We can follow her progress from her
years of student activism to her years as one of the most controversial
First Ladies America has had.
Readers
will be disappointed if they are expecting gory details of what
‘Hil said to Bill’ when she found he had lied and lied
about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. It is dealt with, but without
emotion and this would seem to be why people find Hilary cold and
unfeeling – she doesn’t bleed in public. She humorously
describes the pitfalls of balancing being a wife, mother and a very
political First Lady in the face of prurient Press interest. She
held Jacqueline Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt, two equally formidable
ladies, as her role models in creating her own idea of being a First
Lady.
This
book covers Hilary’s role in the internal politics of the
U.S. as well as her travels abroad and her meetings with the great
and the good from all over the world and from all walks of life,
but in a documentary fashion rather than as a personal recollection.
Overall this is an interesting book, well written but perhaps a
bit over-edited as one would expect from such a self-controlled
intelligent lady. |