Bill Clinton: An American Journey

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Revelatory biography by controversial and award-winning biographer Nigel Hamilton brings all the magisterial authority he brought to his Whitbread-winning biography of Monty, and all the talent for tracking down and verifying hidden, controversial material that he showed in JFK- Reckless Youth, which topped the American bestseller charts for months, in this new biography of Bill Clinton. Born into a 'white trash' family in backwoods, racially segregated Arkansas, he suffered under an alcoholic, violent stepfather, on one occasion having to fight him physically in order to protect his mother. As a youth he would become inspired by the civil rights movement, particularly Martin Luther King, and as a student became a long-haired hippy musician, involved in radical politics and also discovering free love. Hamilton tells the story of how Clinton's sexual and political career developed hand in hand. This is a book about sexual politics on many levels, showing how Clinton's life was formed by changing attitudes. Here is a man who, far from being a sexual predator or exploiter of his position - like JFK - was swept to power because women adored him, whether Democratic party helpers, the women of the American electorate - or indeed Hilary Clinton, whose powerfully manipulative personality is shown to have been vital to his success,. Clinton has been polygamous throughout his adult life, and Hamilton's fascinating portrait of a marriage examines Hilary's relationship with his quite astonishing number of girlfriends. The book also covers his time at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, his political apprenticeship and his rise to power, culminating in his election as President in '92.

Reviews

Nigel Hamilton's fascinating portrait...demonstrates how the private life of a charismatic president can be incorporated within a serious biography that is compellingly readable * Sunday Telegraph *
I was gripped-a superbly researched work * Michael Portillo, Daily Express *
A prodigious amount of research - the most complete portrait yet of the formative years [of Clinton] * Sunday Express *
absorbing * Financial Times *
An ambitious undertaking - Clinton is a man of paradoxes and Hamilton delves deep into all of them * Guardian *

Author Bio

Nigel Hamilton was born in 1944, and studied history at Cambridge University. His first major biography, The Brothers Mann, was critically acclaimed both in Britain and the USA, and widely translated. Monty, his first 3-volume official life of Field Marshal Montgomery, won the Whitbread Award for Biography and the Templar medal. JFK; Reckless Youth was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic in 1992, selling over a quarter of a million copies in hardback.