My Life
Selected Book Details
- Paperback
- Edition: 1st Printing
- Author: Bill Clinton
- Publisher: Vintage
- Release Date: May 2005
- ISBN-10: 140003003X
- ISBN-13: 9781400030033
- List Price: $18.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryAn exhaustive, soul-searching memoir, Bill Clinton's My Life is a refreshingly candid look at the former president as a son, brother, teacher, father, husband, and public figure. Clinton painstakingly outlines the history behind his greatest successes and failures, including his dedication to educational and economic reform, his war against a "vast right-wing operation" determined to destroy him, and the "morally indefensible" acts for which he was nearly impeached. My Life is autobiography as therapy--a personal history written by a man trying to face and banish his private demons. Clinton approaches the story of his youth with gusto, sharing tales of giant watermelons, nine-pound tumors, a charging ram, famous mobsters and jazz musicians, and a BB gun standoff. He offers an equally energetic portrait of American history, pop culture, and the evolving political landscape, covering the historical events that shaped his early years (namely the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK) and the events that shaped his presidency (Waco, Bosnia, Somalia). What makes My Life remarkable as a political memoir is how thoroughly it is infused with Clinton's unassuming, charmingly pithy voice: I learned a lot from the stories my uncle, aunts, and grandparents told me: that no one is perfect but most people are good; that people can't be judged only by their worst or weakest moments; that harsh judgments can make hypocrites of us all; that a lot of life is just showing up and hanging on; that laughter is often the best, and sometimes the only, response to pain. However, that same voice might tire readers as Clinton applies his penchant for minute details to a distractible laundry list of events, from his youth through the years of his presidency. Not wanting to forget a single detail that might help account for his actions, Clinton overdoes it--do we really need to know the name of his childhood barber? But when Clinton sticks to the meat of his story--recollections about Mother, his abusive stepfather, Hillary, the campaign trail, and Kenneth Starr--the veracity of emotion and Kitchen Confidential-type revelations about "what it is like to be President" make My Life impossible to put down. To Clinton, "politics is a contact sport," and while he claims that My Life is not intended to make excuses or assign blame, it does portray him as a fighter whose strategy is to "take the first hit, then counterpunch as hard as I could." While My Life is primarily a stroll through Clinton's memories, it is also a scathing rebuke--a retaliation against his detractors, including Kenneth Starr, whose "mindless search for scandal" protected the guilty while "persecuting the innocent" and distracted his Administration from pressing international matters (including strikes on al Qaeda). Counterpunch indeed. At its core, My Life is a charming and intriguing if flawed book by an equally intriguing and flawed man who had his worst failures and humiliations made public. Ultimately, the man who left office in the shadow of scandal offers 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 |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Warning! If you are a Republican and want to remain a Republican, do not read "My Life."
Rating:
I was pleased with this book, but rather than repeat the many good things that have been said about it, I am going to rebut some of the bad things that have been said. The book isn't perfect, but it doesn't deserve only one or two stars. I give it five stars because it gave me what I was looking for.
Complaint: It's boring.
Rebuttal: Boring is subjective. It took me two weeks to read this book, and I had to struggle through some parts. I mean I was bored. But there were reasons for that, and maybe the fault did not lay with the material. For example:
1) The book got boring when Bill started talking about the economy. I was mouthing words in my mind without understanding them. Slowing down and rereading helped.
2) "My Life" comprises a host of characters. Bill should've included an alphabetical list of characters with their titles, positions, and relations. He didn't, and consequently I often ran into a name I had forgotten. The name had no meaning, and when a word has no meaning, you have boredom. The index was helpful, but an additional list of characters would've made the book less boring.
3) Sometimes I didn't have enough sleep. Drowsy reading got magically interesting after a cup of tea.
Complaint: It's bloated with minutiae.
Rebuttal: Look, I'm no more interested in John Doe's high school activities than you are. But this book is about a U.S. president, for goodness sake, and one of the best at that! I was interested in these minutiae, and so should you be. That is unless you're really only interested in that hot date you have lined up, and you just want to hurry up and finish the book so you can brag that you have read it. Trust me: Take your time with "My Life." It may take a couple of weeks, or one or two months, but it's easy to read, it's very informative, and it's very probably the only way you'll ever become president. Relax and let Bill be your guide.
Complaint: This book is not the best book about the Clinton presidency. "He had to gloss over a lot of the things that happened while he was president....I'd recommend either Living History by Hillary Clinton or Madame Secretary by Madeline Albright. Skip this one."
Rebuttal: 1) If you were to write a book giving in-depth information about every important event in World War II, you might write the longest book ever written. The same is true about Clinton's eight years as president. Sure, the books you mentioned probably tell of some things that Bill omitted, but he mentions the major events, and though I haven't read either of those books, I'll bet they omit some things about his presidency that he doesn't omit.
2) "My Life" is chock-full of interesting and VERY interesting anecdotes. He relates details about Hillary and Chelsea. He writes of his travels--to every state in the Union and to areas all around the world, including Antarctica. He tells of his relations with important leaders, from Arafat to Yeltsin. He plays his sax at the good times; he cries at the tragedies. He plays hearts with his aides. He gives a good chronicle of his adventures with Whitewater, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, and Ken Starr. He battles Republicans who are jealous that he's reducing the deficit they had so neatly stacked up. He is given a book of Yeats's plays from U-2's Bono, who helps Bill's push for debt relief. And on, and on.... This is a good book.
Complaint: I wanted to read about the Clinton presidency, but he doesn't start talking about it until after I've struggled through hundreds of pages of irrelevant material.
Rebuttal: 1) "My Life" is about Clinton's life--through May 2004--not just his presidency.
2) It's impossible to have full knowledge of a presidency if you don't know the person who is president.
Complaint: "My Life" is a self-important, arrogant narrative of braggadocio.
Rebuttal: He criticizes himself fairly. Besides, when you write or talk about yourself, and if you have achieved genuinely significant accomplishments, it isn't easy to describe those accomplishments without appearing to be arrogant and self-important. But it's more important to tell the truth than to avoid telling it because of humility.
Complaint: "...worst book I have ever read....some boring guys' diary....A waste of time! TOTALLY HORRIBLE, BORING, BLAND...."
Rebuttal: How many books have you read? Surely you haven't read the "Holy Bible," at least not the part where it says, "Thou shalt not lie."
Complaint: "...Everything juicy that he exposes has been exposed in the newspaper and I read it before.... This book is a bore....Not much on the human side of him is ever revealed. Not one conversation between him and Hillary or Chelsea is ever recalled. A whitewash or expurgated version of I don't know what."
Rebuttal: It's true Bill doesn't quote any conversations he had with Hillary or Chelsea, though I don't know if that would've been appropriate. After all, Hillary is still a major political figure, and Chelsea is still alive. Bill did read to Chelsea when she was a girl. He does write about Hillary's decision to change her name. He does describe a bedtime confession to Hillary regarding Monica Lewinsky. Also he writes of moments of depression in his youth as well as during the time he was being pummeled because of his indiscretion with Monica. But if his autobiography is boring because it's not pornographic, that's not Bill's fault.
Complaint: "Don't waste your money!"
Rebuttal: I was rewarded and fulfilled by "My Life." It was a worthy expenditure.
Complaint: "...a near endless series of events rehashed from his diaries."
Rebuttal: He may have used diaries and other personal records, but the narrative proceeds smoothly and is easy to read. True, sometimes he says, "On Tuesday we...," or "...on the thirteenth I had to...," and I had to flip back a few pages to remember the month and year. He should've mentioned the month and year more often. Also, a chronology would've been helpful.
Complaint: "My Life" is just a diatribe against the Republican Party.
Rebuttal: Untrue. "My Life" is an autobiography. On many occasions he castigates Republicans, but he doesn't just call them bad names; he lists specific reasons for his castigations. Also, he writes about a number of Republicans that he was friendly with and with whom, to some extent, he agreed. Besides, though there are exceptions, Republicans ARE a bad choice for your vote. If you want our country and human civilization to progress, if you believe in a government by the people and for the people, and if you believe in preservation of nature and in values of free thought, free religion, free speech, racial equality, peace, law & order, happiness, and prosperity for ALL human beings, then you should vote Democratic.
Complaint: "It's just a shame he doesn't bring any depth to them [characters and events] by describing more personalities of people, more background into events and more color to situations."
Rebuttal: 1) This is not a serious problem for most readers of this book. You're asking for more detail about personalities and events whereas the more common complaint is that the book has too much detail. Still your complaint is reasonable. Bill often says a few words about the characters, and the events speak for themselves. For example when Bill wrote about the forced relocations and atrocities against the Kosovars, he doesn't describe Kosovar psychology or the architecture of Kosovar homes. In a book focusing on Kosovo, that degree of description would've been okay. But for "My Life," far too many characters and events come into play for that kind of detail.
2) One person is described fairly well. That's Bill himself. To understand much of this description, you need to read between the lines. I think I did, and my reading has let me know him. Though he has his faults--I strongly disagree with him about God and family life--he is a much better human being than most.
Triumph of Evil.
Rating:
History will judge Bill Clinton a good governor and president, but I could never vote for him. To quote Bill, from his own book, "I wouldn't piss in his ear if his brain was on fire". He's quoting someone else when he says this, he's not completely serious. I am. It's not his politics, exactly? The media made Clinton out to be the very embodiment of the counter-culture and 'tolerance'. Sorry, not getting my vote.
Bill Clinton was often asked, is there anything, any value, you truly believe in? Finally Bill answered this question by saying, "Equal rights". Judging by his actions (and this book) he means equal rights for women and minorities. To be 'proud' of ones record toward woman and minorities (and promising to do more), is about like 'Himmler' or someone being 'proud' of his efforts to 'uplift' the German people in 1936. The USA today resembles nothing so much as Nazi Germany? One groups to blame for all problems in society and in history, with no deviations - check. One groups it is Ok to discriminate against, and more must be done - check. Everything bad in this world made out to be good, and everything good in this world made out to be 'controversial' or evil - check . . . Ok, even Nazi Germany wasn't that 'successful'. Frankly, with Bill Clinton as the physical embodiment of 'tolerance' and his rise to prominence in the free world, I can call this book nothing other than, 'Triumph of Evil'.
The case could be made. . . the only way to 'peacefully' coexist with millions of black Americans (that we know of so far) is by embracing evil. . . but don't call it enlightenment - Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining.
I could never vote for Bill.. but I did vote for Obama. It's not so surprising Obama won in the primary. Too many people just didn't like Hillary. It's funny, conservatives may dislike Bill - they hate Hillary. Perhaps on some level they understand Bill was what he was because it's what he needed to be in order to get laid on a regular basis without paying - paying as little as possible. Or perhaps if only Hillary would just leave Bill for a fine young republican man, then we'd love her instead of hate her. Maybe that's what it is.
Triumph of Evil is a straightforward book. He just tells what he did, and names the people he's known. He talks about campaigning for Arkansas Senator William Fulbright, as a youth, saying he went to one of his ultra-conservative opponents, Jim Johnson's, speeches. Johnson held up a shoe, saying, "see this shoe? It was made in Communist Romania. Bill Fulbright voted to let these Communist shoes come into America and take jobs away from good Arkansas people working in our shoe factories". Bill Clinton says, "When he shook my hand (after the speech), I told him he made me ashamed to be from Arkansas. I think my earnestness amused him. He just smiled, invited me to write him about my feelings, and moved on the the next handshake".
There's a more well-known story, that while Clinton was campaigning for governor, a bar patron told him, "You're a long-haired hippie professor from the university. For all we know, you're a Communist. But I'll tell you something. Anyone who would campaign at a beer join in Joiner at midnight on a Saturday night deserves to carry one box. So you hide and watch. You'll win here. But it'll be the only damn place you win in this county".
The book gets better. . . It really starts to pick up when he meets Hillary. Instead, right when he's falling in love with Hillary. . . Sent on a legal errand, he sees someone shooting up, with a hypodermic needle sticking out of their arm, talks to a tall black transvestite on Elm street, and learns his friend Frank Allen has killed himself. All in three successive paragraphs on page 187. It's not a coincidence these stories fall one paragraph after another. How many of these stories in the book are real? Who knows. The romance with Hillary turns out to be a disappointment (simply because he writes so little about it - ending it - the writing at least - pretty much there on page 186).
He spends a good deal of time writing about the phony scandals. He spends most of that time obsessed with accusing his accusers of wrongdoing in every tiny detail of the 'investigation'. Pretty-sure he's trying to make himself look bad. It comes off as if he has no respect for the justice system and makes him look petty, and of course we know he's guilty. He does not repeat the line, "Depends what the meaning of the word, is, is". One of his staffers, Bob Rubin, sums up the scandal for everyone at a meeting by saying, "the bigger issue is the disproportion of the media coverage and the hypocrisy of some of your critics". Incredible. But the whole nation has gone insane. . . He writes, after impeachment failed, "I took one question (from a reporter): 'In your heart, sir, can you forgive and forget?'" He sums up the episode himself by writing, "they (republicans) were in a hurry to vote on impeachment before some of them started thinking again". By 'thinking' and 'them' he means dumb middle americans who are being exploited by republicans - repeating a line he used quite 'effectively' early in the book (In case my review is unclear, he's basically repeating a line "before some of them started thinking again" in a very unflattering manner and at a very inopportune time, at the conclusion of his personal scandals). I would recommend this book to all evil people, especially those with an advanced education and who are older. I do hope Bob Rubin, above, was actually being facetious. . . The author Michael Crichton has claimed the practical affect of the 'affairs', was that Bill Clinton, being accused of 'sexism', altered America's mindset, a bit, towards this grave injustice (against women) running rampant in society. . .
To sum up Bill Clinton's political career. . . He embraces republican and right wing values and initiatives, calls them his own, enacts them into law, and then is sure to call actual republicans 'evil and heartless', etc.
He often does have nice things to say about his opposition, and he characterizes their views in a fair manner. At the conclusion he mentions that when the chips are down, it's harder to do this (explaining his own obsessions during contentious times, and providing a living example). He even leaves the door open, on occasion, for a return from evil, RFE - Talking about the importance of religion and two parent families. Sometimes he doesn't understand his opponents position. He writes, "I vetoed it (partial-birth abortion ban) because no one had shown me evidence that the women's advocates had been untruthful in saying the procedure was necessary or that there was another alternative procedure". He refers to supply side economics as 'trickle down economics' and his own policies as 'Invest and Grow'. We now know Invest and Grow works. Obama is proving that, but it is not lost on me when the news media observes, we've come out of the worst recession 'in 20 years' (the Carter recession of 20 years ago, the one not Obama, but Reagan saved us from). Also supply side worked well at least in the field of hi-tech. There was absolutely no market for the personal computer, for example, no demand at all, and yet it is now a staple of our economy and a welcome convenience.
At times he stretches the truth Too far. Calling for end to the 'politics of division', by which he means, a call for more affirmative action, and for blaming, conservative white men (of all people), for all problems in history and their continuation in the present - the legal definition of 'diversity' and 'tolerance'. He writes that welfare rolls were reduced from 14.1 million to 5.8 million... ignoring the fact most recipients had simply transferred to SSI - a more lucrative form of, well, welfare - that has a different name. Talking about Russia, he writes, "Yeltsin was in the fight of his life against the old Communists and other reactionaries". He repeats this label a couple of times later. Earlier in the book, he refers to American conservatives and anti-communists as reactionaries. I remember everyone in the news referring to the communists - the bad guys now (as long as they are overseas communists) as the 'right' during this episode. A congressman, who I'd never heard before, or seen since, was given a sound bite saying something like, "why are the communists being called 'the right'"? Clinton even manages to misquote Jesus, writing "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the Earth". No one caught this? Triumph of Evil is perhaps not such a bad name. There's no other way to describe this work? It's a laundry list of what went wrong? You know. . ., Bill Clinton may indeed be somewhat of a liberal goody-two shoes, as he's portrayed here, and a better person for it, and we may be a better nation, in some ways, because there are more 'Bill Clintons' out there; at the same time, the triumph of liberal 'values', excuse me, the triumph of evil, TOE, came about, simply because professing in evil values, became the easiest way to hurt other people. The side from which to hurt other people. A triumph of might over right. Ironically, it was during the Clinton presidency that there became hope that our never ending national nightmare might finally near an end. . . But no, it didn't. We're stuck, like in a bad episode of 'Lost'. Evil demands we be given no other choice. There's nothing else we can do. Of course evil doesn't call itself evil, but, enlightenment. And claims good is evil. It's all preordained, nothing we can do but go along. No other choice. Where will the next one be born. . . Not Hope, Arkansas, again. . . Maybe, 'Mansfield, Ohio'? Who could argue with that?
Near the end of the book, and then again at the very end, Bill Clinton uses another very effective line - a very good criticism (quite similar to the one he uses earlier where he says those on the right 'don't think'), he warns us that those on the far-right, "honestly believe they know the whole truth". I believe in psychological warfare, this is known as, 'inoculation'. Thanks Bill, for inoculating us against yourself. He's not evil; he's simply a disease that must be rooted out.
GOT THE BOOK FAST!
Rating:
The book came as discribed and was fast, would recommend this seller. I had orginally ordered from another person starting with P and did not send the book or could even contact. Glad this person came through.
A study in clinical psychology
Rating:
Bill Clinton rivals Richard Nixon as perhaps the most narcissistic, pathologically dishonest president in U.S. history. This book should interest clinical psychologists who also have a fairly detailed knowledge of the history of Clinton's presidency. Ordinary citizens should be aware of the pathology underlying Clinton's version of the facts.
Polical Readers Will Love It
Rating:
It took me over a month to listen to the audio book of President Bill Clinton's autobiography, My Life.
With a long commute to and from work, I wanted something to keep me interested while I drove. Not that I needed the distraction.
President Clinton has written a mammoth tome to fill us in on what his life was like. The first section is devoted to his early life and all the wild experiences with getting butted by a ram and his first time running for office. Part 1 ends with his being elected President.
Part 2 gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his terms in office.
Now I enjoy political books. I like learning about what it's like to hold public office and serve in the government. I didn't approach this book as part of a political party. I know there are people (Republicans) who seriously have some non-healthy obsession with proclaiming President Clinton to be evil. And I know there are people who wish he could have stayed in office well past the 8 years.
You'll get to read about his meeting heads of state from other countries, his long-running feud with the Republican-led Congress halfway through his first term, and you'll get a sense of his ideology. I liked learning about how he viewed The United States and how, he felt, it should move forward.
Near the end, I grew weary of his constant complaining about how the Republicans were out to get him, but in his defense, Kenneth Starr was diabolical.
Of course, there is the section on the Monica Lewinski affair and President Clinton explains how his family dealt with the aftermath of his deception and confession.
After the month long experience, I can safely say that I do not plan on reading this book again. Once was enough for me.
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