Bill Clinton: An American Journey: Great Expectations

by Nigel Hamilton

Book Overview

Bill Clinton, forty-second president of the United States, is the quintessential baby boomer: on the one hand blessed with a near-genius IQ, on the other, beset by character flaws that made his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375506101
• ISBN13: 9780375506109
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 816 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Great Book about a Complex Man

I tried very hard to like President Clinton's Memoirs. But instead I found myself frustrated at the way his autobiography blames everyone else for Clinton's problems except himself. That being said, while his memoirs frustrated me it causes me to read further about Clinton and fill in the many gaps between the truth and what was presented in My Life by Clinton. An American Journey is a highly readable, truthfull, and ultimately sympathetic look at Clinton's rise to presidency. The author does not sugarcoat anything and you see the real Bill Clinton: his many strengths and his many weaknesses. I also enjoyed how the author put the situations Clinton was in into the Context of the times and place. I really could not stop reading this book. It is very good and should be read rather than Clinton's memoirs.

Our 42nd President, His Life And Times

This is the best biography of President Clinton yet published. Nigel Hamilton covers Clinton's life up to his election in November 1992. He does a great job of describing Clinton's background, parentage, and early years. I realized for the first time (and I have read numerous Clinton studies) just how poor and unprivileged a background the President came from, and how truly remarkable it was that anyone with so many strikes agaisnt him rose so far so quickly. Hamilton also provides some interesting psychological insights into Clinton's well known moral weaknesses and failings, so that the reader gets a better understanding of this enormously complex (and very human) individual. Hamilton does an excellent job of covering the historic events which influenced Clinton's growth, so that this is not just a biography, but a history of modern America and the world.Clinton phobics will not enjoy this book because it is truly "fair and balanced." But if you are looking for the truth, and would like some insights into President Clinton before reading his own memoirs, this book is an excellent beginning.

TERRIFIC READ!!!!!!!!

I have read the critical reviews of this book. I cannot disagree with them more. To understand this man Bill Clinton, you need to analyze his psyche. You have to understand what drives him and motivates him. In this book Nigel Hamilton allows us the special opportunity to really understand Bill Clinton and how his mind works. Sex, is it a big part of this book?? YES. Is it a big part of Bill Clinton's life?? YES. It is appropriate. I also found the brevity with which Nigel wrote each chapter relieving and really left me wanting more. Bill Clinton is an amazing man and we learn that in this book. I am a huge fan of his and was waiting for an author to write a book that really tried to explain Bill Clinton's mind and how he managed to be so successful. This book does that. Thank you Nigel. CLINTON 04!!!!!!!!!

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

First the good. Despite approaching 700 pages, this book is a relatively quick read. Insightful,well-researched and mostly dispassionate, it provides revelations that may come as a surprise to even the most knowledgeable Clinton observer. Hamilton gives perhaps the most compelling case for the "real" paternal history of little Billy Blythe. Also, the book is very persuasive in detailing some of the reasons for the polarizing nature of the former president. On the personal level, it's his charm, intellect, talent, good looks, and compassion, but also his lack of discipline, looseness with the truth, and apparent immaturity. On a larger scale, it stems from the generation gap, culture war, and changes in the way the media operates. Hamilton is most strong when he supports these convincing arguments with facts and well-thought out analysis. Where he struggles is when he digresses into psych-babble and testimonials from less than reputable or fair-minded sources, such as Dick Morris, Paula Jones and Paul Greenberg. That's the bad...Also, though the book is very long, that doesn't excuse Hamilton for his factual mistakes, such as misnaming the rap artist Clinton sharply criticized in the early 90's. All in all... I would recommend this book. It provides a (mostly) balanced account of the life of President Clinton, his education and political career, and the motivations of the subject and his admirers and detractors alike.

Engaging but flawed

Engaging but flawed--something one could say with equal confidence about this book and about its subject. Bill Clinton is a fascinating, appealing, brilliant, larger-than-life character with tremendous gifts and profound weaknesses. Nigel Hamilton's new biography--the first of two parts (like his earlier, much-acclaimed JFK: Reckless Youth, the sequel to which has yet to appear)--is full of fascinating information and suggestive analysis, but, like Bill Clinton, it is imperfect.To begin with the obvious: this is a thoughtfully written, carefully researched examination of Bill Clinton's first forty-six years (it ends with the 1992 election). It helps the reader understand not only Clinton but also his times: Hamilton's subtitle, An American Journey, points to the book's focus. It depicts Clinton as a representative American of his generation, a man whose individual career mirrors the collective career of the Baby Boomers he so ably represented--in the minds of enthusiasts and detractors alike. As an Englishman, Hamilton brings an outsider's perspective to bear on American culture, politics, and history. He helps us get to know Bill Clinton and the many fascinating people who have surrounded him, from Arkansas senator William Fulbright (pictured in a memorably testy moment on the campaign trail) to Hillary Rodham (equally testy) to Gennifer Flowers. Hamilton enriches our understanding of issues and personalities alike. It's a must-read for anyone interested in Bill Clinton, in American politics, or in the Baby Boom generation and the cultural transformation American has undergone during its ascendancy.The book is flawed, though, in at least three ways.First, Hamilton's usually invaluable outsider perspective sometimes gets him in trouble, as when he confuses liberal stalwart Eugene McCarthy with anti-communist witch-hunger Joe McCarthy (126) or characterizes "Whittier [home of Richard Nixon] and the Pedernales [stomping ground of Lyndon Johnson]" as among Clinton's (and Cliff Jackson's) "law school texts" (254).Second, the book may have been written too early. By Hamilton's own admission, he has had to rely to a significant extent on published sources. Others might prove more available in a few years (and will, we can only hope, help to inform the second volume of this two-volume biography).Third, Hamilton seems to be on a mission to justify Clinton's sexual behavior as an outcome of an irresistible evolutionary logic. He returns repeatedly to flaccid sociobiological explanations of the sexual choices of Clinton and men like him (e.g., "Feminists in particular deplored and rejected patriarchal libertinism, however much it might still be part of man's ancient, evolutionary makeup. Nonfeminist women, emboldened by changing attitudes toward equality between the sexes, also failed to take account of men's genetically determined promiscuity" [322-3]). Those readers skeptical of sociobiology will find this refrain tiring--a distraction from a generally f