Synopses & Reviews
The definitive account of one of the most accomplished, controversial, and polarizing figures in American history
Bill Clinton is the most arresting leader of his generation. He transformed American politics, and his eight years as president spawned arguments that continue to resonate. For all that has been written about this singular personality–including Clinton’s own massive autobiography–there has been no comprehensive, nonpartisan overview of the Clinton presidency.
Few writers are as qualified and equipped to tackle this vast subject as the award-winning veteran Washington Post correspondent John F. Harris, who covered Clinton for six of his eight years in office–as long as any reporter for a major newspaper. In The Survivor, Harris frames the historical debate about President William Jefferson Clinton, by revealing the inner workings of the Clinton White House and providing the first objective analysis of Clinton’s leadership and its consequences.
Harris shows Clinton entering the Oval Office in 1993 primed to make history. But with the Cold War recently concluded and the country coming off a nearly uninterrupted generation of Republican presidents, the new president’s entry into this maelstrom of events was tumultuous. His troubles were exacerbated by the habits, personal contacts, and the management style, he had developed in his years as governor of Arkansas. Clinton’s enthusiasm and temper were legendary, and he and Hillary Rodham Clinton–whose ambitions and ordeals also fill these pages–arrived filled with mistrust about many of the characters who greeted them in the “permanent Washington” that often holds the reins in the nation’s capital.
Showing surprising doggedness and a deep-set desire to govern from the middle, Clinton repeatedly rose to the challenges; eventually winning over (or running over) political adversaries on both sides of the aisle–sometimes facing as much skepticism from fellow Democrats as from his Republican foes. But as Harris shows in his accounts of political debacles such as the attempted overhaul of health care, Clinton’s frustrations in the war against terrorism, and the numerous personal controversies that time and again threatened to consume his presidency, Bill Clinton could never manage to outrun his tendency to favor conciliation over clarity, or his own destructive appetites.
The Survivor is the best kind of history, a book filled with major revelations–the tense dynamic of the Clinton inner circle and Clinton’s professional symbiosis with Al Gore to the imprint of Clinton’s immense personality on domestic and foreign affairs–as well as the minor details that leaven all great political narratives. This long-awaited synthesis of the dominant themes, events, and personalities of the Clinton years will stand as the authoritative and lasting work on the Clinton Presidency.
Review
"[A] sober, fair-minded and highly readable account of Mr. Clinton's tenure in the White House....[The Survivor is a welcome antidote to both Mr. Clinton's sloppy and self-indulgent memoir...and the egregious, rumor-mongering hit job...performed by the British biographer Nigel Hamilton in 2003." Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Review
"A complement and corrective to the Clintons' own memoirs, full of surprising turns that do much to explain the recent past-and the unfolding political present." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Readers of whatever political posture should enjoy this absorbing look at a compelling political figure." Booklist
Review
"Better accounts of the Clinton presidency will be written, but for now this is the best....Harris, in short, has written a responsible, honest, tough, and best of all considered assessment of Clinton's presidency that will endear him to neither Clinton's enthusiastic supporters nor his vitriolic detractors." Benjamin Schwarz, the Atlantic Monthly (read the entire Atlantic Monthly review)
Review
"In these highly partisan times, Clinton-haters will likely find Harris's even-toned take unsatisfying. But as the jockeying begins for the 2008 presidential race, there's much to be learned from the story of a man who won the presidency twice, even if he never quite cracked the 50 percent mark at the ballot box." Linda Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor (read the entire Christian Science Monitor review)
Synopsis
There have been numerous memoirs from the Clinton years, reflecting both positive and negative lights on Bill Clinton's record and leadership style. There have been reconstructions of specific political and policy episodes: the passage of his original economic plan in 1993, Whitewater, impeachment, the battle against terrorism, and so on. But
The Survivor is the first attempt to synthesize the dominant themes of the Clinton years; to reconstruct in a single volume, with illuminating narrative detail, the major personal political and policy decisions this president made.
John F. Harris describes the signatures of Bill Clinton's leadership style, and how these signatures influenced his successes and failures. Unlike most of what has been written on the Clinton years, The Survivor is not ideological in origins. Instead, Harris, frames the historical debate about Clinton's presidency and its significance in ways that will be informative regardless of where a readers sits on the political spectrum.
With his combination of incisive reporting and analysis, and graceful prose, John F. Harris has written the definitive presidential biography of Bill Clinton.
Synopsis
This biography synthesizes the dominant themes of the Clinton years, illuminating the major personal, political and policy decisions the president made and his successes and failures.
About the Author
John F. Harris is a veteran political reporter for The Washington Post who covered the Clinton presidency from 1995 through its conclusion in 2001. His work during these years earned several prestigious awards, including the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Aldo Beckman Award and the Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency from the Gerald R. Ford Library. Additionally, Harris is a panelist on PBS-TV’s Washington Week and appears on numerous other television and radio programs.