Slow Coming Dark: A Novel of the Age of Clinton

Books Slow Age Of Clinton

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And I fought hard for — at great cost to my party — the assault weapons ban. But anything that has happened in the past year or so that is also in the book, that is purely coincidental. I like spinach and sweet potatoes. There are a lot of powerful women in the book — the vice president, the chief of staff, the FBI director, the assassin. I give most of the credit to Jim. When we started, there were already a lot of women characters. We were ahead of our time.

But the ultimate objective is not to take good care of women who are victims. The ultimate objective is to create a society where women are not victims, any more than men, because of their gender. I taught my daughter to drive a little more than 20 years ago, at Camp David. He drove me in a golf cart once.

Are they the biggest threats or just easy bogeymen? Was that you, Jim? I did not write that! The danger passes and there they are. What should he do? Go right back to the rat race? Or should he try to find some way as president to seize the moment, to capitalize on an emotional moment for the country? We talked about that speech a lot. And it reminded me a lot of [Nelson] Mandela. He then became the head of all the black tribes in South Africa.

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And then Mandela becomes the head of the white people in South Africa, right? But he never gives up his tribe. He goes home to the town he grew up in, to die. Everybody thinks their kids are geniuses. I have one coming out in October. The Albert Einstein estate came to me — they wanted to do something that would really keep Einstein alive with little kids and be entertaining. I like your book about big words.

What advice would you give to people who are contemplating such a second or third act? You could still be a dancer, you can love dance, just be realistic about it.

People get afraid of making fools of themselves. I think realism has to play a part in it — just what is possible at what age, what your skills are. You should know your skills at that point. Is this going to be a job or is it going to be an avocation? Avocations are cool, too.

The servers will be erased. Alpha Lipoic Acid Breakthrough: The Age of Deleveraging, Updated Edition: My Mother, Your Mother: The Good Karma Diet: The Age of Deleveraging: Live Now, Age Later: Proven Ways to Slow Down the Clock A Novel of the Age of Clinton by H. Covington - Paperback Articles on South African Novels, Including: Kaplan, Beverly Moran - Paperback The Age of the Great Western Schism At times I felt like screaming TMI!

I just could not finish it I am a Russian and I love reading biographies of people whom I, if not admire, then at least look up to in one way or another. Add to that the fact that I am not a political buff and during my conscious years on Earth, the U.

Have Bill Clinton and James Patterson Created a Best-Seller?

This is my way of saying that in my opinion, even though based on extremely limited knowledge of the subject, I believe Bill Clinton to I am a Russian and I love reading biographies of people whom I, if not admire, then at least look up to in one way or another. This is my way of saying that in my opinion, even though based on extremely limited knowledge of the subject, I believe Bill Clinton to be the best president the United States had in the last few decades. Now, having given that man his props, I demand props of my own.

Major ones, because this is the single thickest book I have ever [or, will ever, for that matter] read in My Life. I fooled myself that this will be an enjoyable read for me, but I overestimated my interest in politics and came "unprepared" to flipping these pages. I did not recognize four out of every five names mentioned in this book and had to read it with my smartphone firm-in-hand so that I could look up people and events using that fancy internetz thingy. But don't get me wrong - the book is extremely well written and edited, each chapter is a lesson in U.

I blame only myself for having the mental capacity of a 5-year old and trying to process the information intended for people who can more that tie their shoelaces and chew bubblegum at the same time. Nevertheless, I read it and, since biographies is my favorite genre, I have this little game I play after closing each book: And I have to say that if Bill's autobiography is indicative and applicable to other presidents or political servants, then I would not wish a life like that for myself.

His life was not crazy or exciting in a traditional sense of the word - he was a pretty preppy guy and, barring a blowjob here and there, lived a mellow life. Sure, I believe that it was an exciting life to have experience first person, but the excitement doesn't translate into book-form. What I mean is, that if you have the craving to play "Follow the Leader" or have the urge to be The Alpha ingrained in your DNA, then of course there is no drug that would make you higher that being the President of the United States of America.

But it all depends on the person. For example, when I'm 80 years old and look back at my life, I understand that it would be more rewarding to reminisce about the days I helped bring peace to the Irish or reduced the national debt, but I would much rather piss my diaper laughing about how I bit off the head off a bat and picked-up rabies or traveled the Globe hitting every bar with a WWE championship around my waist.

That is my chimp-like definition of "fun". Yet I am grateful that the World has people like Bill Clinton - they are a special breed and bring peace and order to our imperfect society, because not everyone can do what they do. Many say that politics shouldn't be perceived as complex as they are made out to be, but they just are: Case in point, I had the pleasure of reading Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography and comparing it to Bill's.

Arny is one of my favorite human beings and a source of inspiration, but while reading about his governorship and political battles, you get a sense of a person doing his best, struggling and giving it his all, but failing to reach his goals and succeeding, based on lack of political skill and experience. Then you read something like "My Life" and realize that if Arnold was a green belt in politics, then Bill was a black belt, navigating the political scene like Han Solo.

He knew what levers to pull, when to push through and when to concede - recognized situations where the gains outweighed the losses and where to "play ball" with an opposing government while sticking with his agenda. So I want to tip my hat to the dying breed of U. Arithmetics Presidents - those who know what it takes to balance a budget, to have the words "compromise" and "common sense" in their vocabulary. Even though I don't live in America, it was such a shame to read " if we stayed on the present course, we would be debt-free by ": So when you bring slippers to your Chinese overlords in the year , you can think back to the Clinton era, when democratic arithmetics were trying to avoid this in opposition to republican "magic".

Nov 19, Scott Holstad rated it it was amazing. At nearly 1, pages, this book is a monster to read, but boy, am I glad I did! First of all, I love Bill Clinton, I've got to be honest. He was, is, and will always be my favorite president. That said, I was curious how he would describe his life and is on goings in the White House and before. He starts with his childhood and writes an exhaustive account of his life up until Bush takes over for him. He spends a great deal of time early on discussing religion and his spirituality, both of which At nearly 1, pages, this book is a monster to read, but boy, am I glad I did!

He spends a great deal of time early on discussing religion and his spirituality, both of which seem extremely important to him. He also spends a lot of time on the Vietnam War and his not going over to fight. He explains that he really struggled with that decision, and although I already knew this, he acknowledges that he joined the ROTC to fulfill his military duty before backing out to finish out his Fulbright scholarship at Oxford. He was plainly torn. His description of meeting and courting Hillary is truly interesting, and it seems clear to me that he really does love her very much, as well as Chelsea.

Both women are mentioned extensively in this book. Clinton could have taken a lot of pot shots at the jerks who consistently attacked him and tried to ruin his life ever since he was elected governor of Arkansas, but he's a bit of a gentleman and goes easy on most. He does display his scorn for Kenneth Starr, who in my opinion, is one of the most evil men of the twentieth century and who should burn in hell for the suffering he caused countless people. What a vindictive asshole! Clinton also does have some hard words to say about the hard Right, with whom he was constantly at war for the last six years of his presidency.

It's amazing to me still how much he was able to accomplish with all of the attacks on his character and presidency.

If you're after juicy gossip, though, you won't find it here. He denies any role with Flowers or Paula Jones and while admitting to the Monica disaster, he limits its inclusion in the book while apologizing to all for his poor decisions. There are a couple of passages that really stood out for me. The first one reads, "Although I would always regret what I had done wrong, I will go to my grave being proud of what I had fought for in the impeachment battle, my last great showdown with the forces I had opposed all of my life -- those who defended the old order of racial discrimination and segregation in the South and played on the insecurities and fears of the white working class in which I grew up; who had opposed the women's movement, the environmental movement, the gay-rights movement, and other efforts to expand our national community as assaults on the natural order; who believed government should be run for the benefit of powerful entrenched interests and favored tax cuts for the wealthy over health care and better education for children.

Fast forward to and it doesn't sound like much as changed, does it? The Republicans are still trying to oppose the very same things and advance the very same tired agenda. Later, he writes about some of the things I loved about his presidency in writing about his State of the Union Address. We had more then twenty million new jobs, the lowest unemployment rate and smallest welfare rolls in thirty years, the lowest crime rate in twenty-five years, the lowest poverty rate in twenty years, the smallest federal workforce in forty years, the first back-to-back surpluses in forty-two years, seven years of declining teen pregnancies and a 30 percent increase in adoptions, and , young people who had served in AmericCorps.

Within a month we would have the longest economic expansion in American history, and by the end of the year we would have three consecutive surpluses for the first time in more than fifty years. And why did people hate such a wonderful president?

Of course, the real tragedy is Bush came in and decimated everything, rolling back social expansions, international friendships, and financial gains and starting a three TRILLION dollar war in Iraq I'm reading on a book on this right now we couldn't pay for and had to borrow to finance, thus practically bankrupting the country for years to come.

Bush needs to be tried for crimes against humanity for what he did to hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq in his deceitful and failed attempts to establish democracy and control oil. If only Clinton were back in office. Obama is better than having the far right Republicans in office, certainly, but he's no Clinton. Perhaps Hillary will save us in One can only hope. This was a fascinating book to read and if you're not too frightened by its size and want to learn about American politics in the s, it's a great book to read. I strongly recommend it. Dec 13, Alma rated it it was amazing.

Clinton's autobiography is long but well worth the read if you want to get the slightest clue about the dirty tricks he faced in D. Oct 28, Wsm added it Shelves: It's been a while since I read it but I remember being disappointed as it was fairly boring. What's more,it just went on and on. It could have used a fair bit of editing and one volume could have easily sufficed instead of two. Three hundred and fifty-five pages in. I think I got up to I'm done with this.

The President Is Missing

I've read a lot of books much shorter than this that came to a much more satisfying conclusion, with far fewer characters, conflicts, and more likeable protagonists. I don't know if it's counter to GoodReads etiquette, but hell, I read this, and didn't even reach his presidency. There's a character in that book named "Shitmouth. This guy shows up briefly as a blacksmith who tells Jaime Lannister all the crazy things that have been happening in his part of the world since Jaime was there last. Shitmouth earned his name because he was incredibly foul mouthed.

He shows up for less than a few pages if that and yet I know so much about him. Another character, I'm pretty sure never even appears in the books: That's not his real name, but I think Jaime calls him that because he's a stuck-up religious zealot.

Baelor loved the former Targaryen Queen, Rhaenys. But since he was too low-born and the Targaryens had the habit of marrying brother and sister together, he was resigned to bachelorhood for the rest of his life. These are fictional people. And yet, I know so SO much more about them than anyone in Clinton's fucking book.

Clinton has a habit of introducing random people who he claims were his friends who helped him politically or personally. He seems to introduce them pretty much only when they die and he has to attend their funerals. No one mentions a funeral in any other kind of book unless something profound or life-changing happens there. Bill just seems to have felt sentimental. I get this weird feeling of sitting at my grandparents' dinner table as they open up a box of mostly chronologically ordered photos from before their birth to the present day and going over the details of each photo, and describing each person's life in vague and sweeping detail.

Like the page where Bill decides to describe a college football game in excruciating detail. Nothing really important happens in that game. Clinton didn't play in it. I have the sneaking suspicion that Clinton didn't edit this even a little bit. If only he had an editor to step in and say, "Look, Bill, I know this guy was important to you, but Oh, and this page about the football game I mean, we don't need it.

Because I can't fathom how Clinton: Remembered all of this, or B. Decided it was worth writing down at the time. Which leads me to believe that he has some kind of bizarre memory and when you combine the fallibility of human memories with the aversion of politicians from facts, logic, and truth, well My coworker saw me reading the book and said several times , "Does it say if he slept with Monica Lewinsky?

So I never really came close to the pages that concern his affair. Just looking at the length, and how from Page 2 he starts rambling how the mentally challenged girl he knew as a child later inspired him to work on some future Welfare Bill to help the disabled, I really get the sense that Clinton wanted to try and adjust his image for posterity as not just the President who got impeached for sleeping with the intern.

And while, obviously, a lot happened in the eight years that he was President, no amount of Alabama metaphors, winding career paths in the Democratic Party, or random friends that helped him with such and such, are going to change the fact that he is The President Who Slept with an Intern. Next time I'm interested in his tenure, I'm just going to look up the Wikipedia page.

Jun 04, John Devlin rated it did not like it. So I chewed through this book for over a year. Reading a few chapters, a few hundred pages before reading the last in one fell swoop. First off, I like Bill Clinton. Moreover, the Lewinsky scandal will be as remembered a hundred years from now as Grover Cleveland's love child is today.

For those of you saying Grover Cleveland had a love child! Wh So I chewed through this book for over a year. What's more he's on a short list of living folk that I would be delighted to sit down for dinner and chew the fat. Though now that he's vegan I guess it would be the celery. That being said his book fails in a number of ways: Clinton's penchant for the inside baseball of every policy quirk that has come down the pipe in the last 50 years is on display, and it's boring.

Second, and probably more disappointing, is its Bloodless. Yes, Clinton has an affinity for campaigning and really hearing the story of ordinary people but seems to have a lack of same in referencing his own story. Finally, Clinton's proclivity to use his early years as homilies that informed his later activism becomes tedious. Relating how he befriended a girl who others thought was odd only to discover she had MS and then to break into how in such an such a year he passed this or that law while remembering her is both pedantic and highlights the book's underlying flaw: Clinton is still a politician guiding his Message and Image and that mission makes for dull reading at best an unintended humor at worst as when for example he relates his rather overeducated take on rap music.

Perhaps, as a more political document this is understandable but it makes for torturous reading at times. Feb 27, Mustafa Ahmad rated it really liked it Shelves: As a politics and history buff, I have read a variety of presidential biographies. But, I am ashamed to admit that this is only the first presidential autobiography that I have read.

See a Problem?

I think I can review this book in a proper, unbiased way, because politically I side with neither the Democratic nor Republican Party, but am a political independent. That said, I do think that Clinton was one of our most successful presidents, domestically, that is that we have ever had. Were I alive back in As a politics and history buff, I have read a variety of presidential biographies. Were I alive back in , I probably would not have voted for him, though. I would more likely have gone for the independent candidate Ross Perot, but that doesn't stop me from liking him, though.

He was much in the same situation that Barack Obama is in today. He worked with a Congress mainly controlled by the Republican Party. Clinton and the Republican Congress worked along just fine to turn the American economy around. Obama's Congress is a modern hard headed ultra-conservative one that refuses to cooperate, digging the US deeper into the recession. However, I disagree with him intently on his foreign policy in places such as Yugoslavia, Iraq, Sudan, Colombia, etc.

But, perhaps I am a little biased. I disagree with the intentions of just about every president's foreign policy since WWII. The book starts with Clinton's childhood in Arkansas. Losing his father prior to his birth, he grew up in a single parent household, with a loving mother and influenced by a moderately pious grandfather who showed disdain for racism and the segregation practices put into place. The book follows Clinton through his high school, college and law school where he met his wife, Hillary years.

Afterwards, he goes through a myriad of events, such as teaching at a law school, campaigning for George McGovern, governor of Arkansas, and all the way up to President of the United States. Regardless of your political views, this book is a must for liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike.

Apr 04, Mark Fullmer added it. In his first chapter, Clinton mentions that he once departed from his reading material of choice, fiction, and picked up a sort of self-help book on making goals for the future. As instructed by the book, the college-age Clinton made up a list of short and long term goals, with the top few being to have a family, a successful political career, and to write a great book. If this was his great book, I'm disappointed. It reads like a long-spinning political yarn with Southern-gentility reticence in In his first chapter, Clinton mentions that he once departed from his reading material of choice, fiction, and picked up a sort of self-help book on making goals for the future.

It reads like a long-spinning political yarn with Southern-gentility reticence in which you never get anything like the 'terrible honesty' that Chandler praised in the s American writers. It added a few interesting facts about the Clinton administration, and is a nice study of one person's rise to prominence, but is little else. Feb 23, Tucker rated it it was ok. I am a fan of Bill. This book details his life, esp. What I dislike most about this book is its defensive tone.

He is constantly under attack, so he seems to always be explaining why he is right, or providing an excuse for why he screwed up. I think this book gave a lot of insight into Bill's personal challenges. However, what I would like to know are the insights he had as president, as a world leader setting the stage.

I think Bill Clinton's p I am a fan of Bill. I think Bill Clinton's presidency was one of the most successful to date; I want to know how this happened, not why Bill's critics are wrong. Jan 18, Jenny Reading Envy rated it it was amazing Shelves: Listen to the audio: I found Hillary's autobiography to be more interesting and informative, but listening to Bill read his own story was heartwarming and inspiring.

I love hearing how political powerhouses get there.

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