Works by
Bill Clinton
(aka William Jefferson Clinton)
(U.S. President, Writer)
[August 19, 1946 - ]

• Health Security: The President's Report to the American People (1993)

• Between Hope and History : Meeting America's Challenges for the 21st Century (1996)

• My Life: The Early Years  (2005)
  My Life: The Presidential Years (2005)
  President Bill Clinton’s My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public.
  
  It shows us the progress of a remarkable American, who, through his own enormous energies and efforts, made the unlikely journey from Hope, Arkansas, to the White House—a journey fueled by an impassioned interest in the political process which manifested itself at every stage of his life: in college, working as an intern for Senator William Fulbright; at Oxford, becoming part of the Vietnam War protest movement; at Yale Law School, campaigning on the grassroots level for Democratic candidates; back in Arkansas, running for Congress, attorney general, and governor.
  
  We see his career shaped by his resolute determination to improve the life of his fellow citizens, an unfaltering commitment to civil rights, and an exceptional understanding of the practicalities of political life.
  
  We come to understand the emotional pressures of his youth—born after his father’s death; caught in the dysfunctional relationship between his feisty, nurturing mother and his abusive stepfather, whom he never ceased to love and whose name he took; drawn to the brilliant, compelling Hillary Rodham, whom he was determined to marry; passionately devoted, from her infancy, to their daughter, Chelsea, and to the entire experience of fatherhood; slowly and painfully beginning to comprehend how his early denial of pain led him at times into damaging patterns of behavior.
  
  President Clinton’s book is also the fullest, most concretely detailed, most nuanced account of a presidency ever written—encompassing not only the high points and crises but the way the presidency actually works: the day-to-day bombardment of problems, personalities, conflicts, setbacks, achievements.
  
  It is a testament to the positive impact on America and on the world of his work and his ideals.
  
  It is the gripping account of a president under concerted and unrelenting assault orchestrated by his enemies on the Far Right, and how he survived and prevailed.
  
  It is a treasury of moments caught alive, among them:

  • The ten-year-old boy watching the national political conventions on his family’s new (and first) television set.

  • The young candidate looking for votes in the Arkansas hills and the local seer who tells him, “Anybody who would campaign at a beer joint in Joiner at midnight on Saturday night deserves to carry one box. . . . You’ll win here. But it’ll be the only damn place you win in this county.” (He was right on both counts.)

  • The roller-coaster ride of the 1992 campaign.

  • The extraordinarily frank exchanges with Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole.

  • The delicate manipulation needed to convince Rabin and Arafat to shake hands for the camera while keeping Arafat from kissing Rabin.

  • The cost, both public and private, of the scandal that threatened the presidency.

  Here is the life of a great national and international figure, revealed with all his talents and contradictions, told openly, directly, in his own completely recognizable voice. A unique book by a unique American.

See also:

• First In His Class: A Biography Of Bill Clinton (1996) by David Maraniss

• High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton (1998) by Ann H. Coulter

• The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton (2000) by Gene Lyons and Joe Conason

• The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House (2001) by Barbara Olson

• The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton (2002) by Joe Klein

• The Woman Who Wouldn't Talk (2002) by Susan McDougal with Pat Harris

• Bill Clinton: An American Journey: Great Expectations (2003) by Nigel Hamilton

• Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Endangered America's Long-Term National Security (2003) by Robert Patterson

• Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years (2003) by Rich Lowry

• Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror (2003) by Richard Miniter

• The Clinton Wars  (2003) by Sidney Blumenthal

• The Choice: How Clinton Won (1997) by Bob Woodward
  Based on a massive body of original reporting and documentation and on hundreds of interviews with firsthand sources, The Choice is the behind-the-scenes story of President Bill Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole over the last two years. It is the personal and political story of how the nation's two top leaders prepared themselves to square off for the 1996 presidential election.
  
  Never before has political reporting provided voters with so much authoritative, in-depth information on the candidates before a presidential election. The Choice sets the stage for the November 5, 1996, election with a study of the contenders in action-- their decisions, their conversations, their private assessments, their disappointments, their anger and triumphs, their definitions of themselves and their evolving understanding of national purpose.
  
  Included in this wide-ranging political history is exclusive new material on the Republican primary contest; the White House and congressional budget battles; the top secret Bosnia strategy sessions in the White House; the influence of Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., and House Speaker Newt Gingrich; the role of political money; the uses of public opinion polling and advertising; former General Colin Powell's decision not to run; and the strategies of both campaigns, including Dole's decision to leave the Senate and his consideration of possible running mates.
  
  Woodward has dug deeply into the personal and political relationship between Clinton and Dole, revealing their private conversations as these most tested products of the American system attempt to balance political gain against the welfare of the country. The Choice is also a character study of the two men and their wives, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Elizabeth Dole.