Washington Post correspondent John F. Harris examines Clinton's eight years in the Oval Office.
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Kirkus Reviews
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.
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Favorable
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Atlantic Monthly Benjamin Schwarz
Better accounts of the Clinton presidency will be written, but for now this is the best.
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Favorable
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Chicago Tribune David M. Shribman
Overall, Harris' portrait of the Clinton years is comprehensible and comprehensive. He has hit all the high spots, with a scrupulous sense of fairness. [12 June 2005]
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Favorable
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Christian Science Monitor Linda Feldmann
Most compelling is Harris's analysis of the relationships and behind-the-scenes details that add flesh and nuance - or even contradiction - to real-time news accounts.
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Favorable
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Los Angeles Times Ronald Brownstein
The story Harris does tell is vivid and enlightening. At least until scholars gain access to more of the administration's internal papers, The Survivor is likely to stand as the most comprehensive account of Clinton's presidency. [22 May 2005, p.R4]
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Favorable
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New York Observer Ted Widmer
The very excellence of Mr. Harris' effort creates nostalgia for a book that doesn't yet exist -- one that will tell Bill Clinton's story with less sound and fury, and more Faulkner. [30 May 2005, p.1]
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Favorable
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The New York Times Book Review Alan Ehrenhalt
A complex, interesting and subtle book about a complex, interesting and subtle man.
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Favorable
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USA Today Bob Minzesheimer
It's a dispassionate, insightful and balanced assessment of the man and president who inspired the most basic question, even among his aides: "Is this guy for real?"
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Favorable
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Washington Post Alan Brinkley
Intelligent, judicious and relatively nonideological -- and also a surprisingly absorbing story, given how fresh the memory of these years remains.
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Favorable
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Boston Globe Ken Bode
The Survivor has a point of view, but it is one that the author builds convincingly with evidence, anecdotes, and analysis. Of all the Clinton books to date, this is the best of breed.
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Favorable
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The Economist
Will this make Mr Clinton less loathed? Probably not. But it provides the best explanation of how this infuriating man led America fairly shrewdly for eight years.
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Mixed
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The Nation Eric Alterman
Because Harris largely ignores his colleagues' anti-Clinton animus, he is at a loss to explain the phenomenon to which he continually alludes: the consistent "dichotomy" between the reaction of the media elite and that of most of America to l'affaire Lewinsky.
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Mixed
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The New Yorker
The product is neither a redemption nor a denunciation but a more measured portrait, and one that complicates the popular narrative of squandered opportunity.
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Mixed
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The New York Times Michiko Kakutani
Useful if predictable volume.
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