The Clinton Legacy

This collection of essays evaluates Bill Clinton's performance as president over two terms. Concerned with the interaction between his leadership and the changing nature of the political environment,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1889119148
• ISBN13: 9781889119144
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Chatham House Pub
• Length: 347 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

An Aggressive Goal

To try and write a book on a Presidents legacy with almost of year left in his term seems to be to be a bit aggressive if not arrogant. After all, it takes years for policies to become fully operational and there effects to be seen in society. Yet these authors marched on and gave it the old college try. To be fair the book does seem to be well written and functionally thought out. Each section of the book hit's the major events within the chapter theme and overall there were not many gaps in the reporting unless you feel the "victory lap" that the last few months of the Clinton presidency turned into is an area you are looking to have covered. As I was reading the book I must say that it was not a comfortable experience. I am a fan of President Clinton and to say that this book is a critical review would be speaking with some sensitivity. The book is very direct and does not get swayed by talking points or message spinners. The authors are brutally honest, but yet not partisan sounding. They covered the issues, but left out the Rush type cheap shots. So if you come away thinking that the authors were too hard on Clinton then you have to make a thoughtful argument against them, because that is what the authors used to make their points. With this said I did think they focused a bit too much on areas that were considered failures. For instance they repeatedly give Clinton negative marks because he could not push through a very liberal agenda due to the gridlock imposed by Newt and company, but did not give him credit for getting some items passed. They seem to discount the fact that the Republicans were fighting everything team Clinton wanted to do and each small step forward was a victory of sorts. Overall the book was well written and a nice overview of the Clinton presidency. I do think that the goal of determining the legacy effect might have been a bit early in history, but the book is a very good overview. If you are interested in the Clinton years then this is a very direct and spin free view of the years, if not a slight bit overly critical and what seamed to be to be a bit bias to the negative side.