Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hard Choices by Hillary Rodham Clinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a challenge to get through and should have been edited down significantly. Also, it is not really a personal memoir. No shocking revelations here or much personal material at all. It’s primarily a foreign policy book.

That said, it’s a great rundown of foreign policy events from 2008-2012 and sheds a lot of light on current events as well. Clinton gives specific examples around the world of different concerns that the players must weigh and that sometimes conflict: American values, promoting democracy around the world, promoting American economic interests, and promoting peace and security to name a few.

I marked all the countries she discusses at length in tags. But given the current climate, the Russian parts were of special interest to me. Seems like Putin and the Russians have a long list of reasons to dislike Clinton. Since this book was written well in advance of the election interference, the reasons are dispersed throughout the book.

Overall, I have to admire how knowledgeable she is about both foreign and domestic issues, how well she can communicate those issues, and how well she understands the importance of upholding our national values. It was also interesting to see how her disagreements with President Obama were presented in the book, with Obama being the more idealistic leader determined to adhere to these values even more than Clinton. She frequently defended less idealistic and more pragmatic options.



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Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There's a lot in this memoir. Clinton discusses her childhood, her time as the Governor's wife in Arkansas, her time as Frist Lady, and her run for New York Senate. She discusses controversial policy issues such as the Clinton-era welfare reforms and her attempt to introduce health insurance reform. She discusses foreign policy challenges during her husband's administration. She also gives her perspective of the numerous scandals that dogged the White House during her husband's administration including Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It was definitely an interesting and a good reminder of all the history we lived through ourselves.

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