A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those Who Know Him

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Overview

Though Bill Clinton has been out of office since 2001, public fascination with him continues unabated. Many books about Clinton have been published in recent years, but shockingly, no single-volume biography covers the full scope of Clinton’s life from the cradle to the present day, not even Clinton’s own account, My Life. More troubling still, books on Clinton have tended to be highly polarized, casting the former president in an overly positive or negative light.

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A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those Who Know Him

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More About This Book

Overview

Though Bill Clinton has been out of office since 2001, public fascination with him continues unabated. Many books about Clinton have been published in recent years, but shockingly, no single-volume biography covers the full scope of Clinton’s life from the cradle to the present day, not even Clinton’s own account, My Life. More troubling still, books on Clinton have tended to be highly polarized, casting the former president in an overly positive or negative light.

In this, the first complete oral history of Clinton’s life, historian Michael Takiff presents the first truly balanced book on one of our nation’s most controversial and fascinating presidents. Through more than 150 chronologically arranged interviews with key figures including Bob Dole, James Carville, and Tom Brokaw, among many others, A Complicated Man goes far beyond the well-worn party-line territory to capture the larger-than-life essence of Clinton the man. With the tremendous attention given to the Lewinsky scandal, it is easy to overlook the president’s humble upbringing, as well as his many achievements at home and abroad: the longest economic boom in American history, a balanced budget, successful intervention in the Balkans, and a series of landmark, if controversial, free-trade agreements. Through the candid recollections of Takiff’s many subjects, A Complicated Man leaves no area unexplored, revealing the most complete and unexpected portrait of our forty-second president published to date.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Oral historian and journalist Takiff (Brave Men, Gentle Heroes) offers a wealth of perspective to counter-or at least complicate-the prevailing, and simplistic, image many people hold of America's 42nd president, despite two prosperous terms and a decade of post-White House foreign relations work. Somewhat predictably, Takiff begins with Clinton's birth to a recently widowed mother in Hope, Ark. and ends, more or less, with wife Hillary Rodham Clinton's failure to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. Throughout, Clinton's life is addressed by those who knew him, loved him, or, in some cases, loathed him. Chapters are introduced with snippets of conversation and deepened by excerpts of interviews, many of which Takiff conducted himself, with a wide range of people, from unknown residents of Hope to Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, Tom Brokaw, Clinton staff members Leon Panetta, Dan Glickman, and Charlene Barshefsky, and many others. The author places everything in context and provides sufficient history to tell the full story, resulting in a book that reads like a conversation between 150 people gathered to reminisce about a complicated man.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Anoka County Union

"Takiff claims a certain objectivity and points to the fact that he interviewed 171 people who had commerce with Clinton."—Dave Wood, Anoka County Union

— Dave Wood

Booklist

“What Takiff delivers is an astonishing collection of 171 interviews, collectively offering an intimate portrait of former president Bill Clinton.”—Booklist, A Top 10 Biography of 2011

Christian Science Monitor

"A valuable document. . . [and] also timely. . . . [A Complicated Man] is fair and balanced. . . . When dealing with someone as inspiring and infuriating as the 42nd president, that is no small feat."—Christian Science Monitor

Dead Presidents Blog

“There is a tradition of solid oral history books on Presidents and the Presidency, but nothing comes close to Michael Takiff’s A Complicated Man.  This is one of the best efforts on Clinton’s life in years, and it is the best oral history book ever written about a President of the United States.”—Anthony Bergen, Dead Presidents Blog

— Anthony Bergen

Library Journal
Former President Clinton has become an admired elder statesman of the Democratic Party. Takiff's (Brave Men, Gentle Heroes: American Fathers and Sons in World War II and Vietnam) excellent oral history, which includes 171 interviews with people who worked with Clinton and admired or hated him, helps reveal the many sides of this controversial leader. All aspects of Clinton's life and political career—from his challenging childhood, terms as Arkansas governor, turbulent presidency, and the sex scandals that nearly drove him from office to his postpresidential humanitarian efforts in Africa and Haiti—receive evenhanded treatment. Although most of the interviews contain more favorable than negative views, remarks abound like former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey's that Clinton "was the most successful adolescent I've ever known." VERDICT This lively first-person draft of history will grab and keep the attention of readers fascinated or infuriated by Clinton, especially those who enjoyed Taylor Branch's The Clinton Tapes.—Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Township Lib., King of Prussia, PA
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780300177688
  • Publisher: Yale University Press
  • Publication date: 10/18/2011
  • Pages: 528
  • Sales rank: 782,181
  • Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 8.90 (h) x 1.40 (d)

Meet the Author

Michael Takiff is an independent scholar and oral historian whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Post, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Salon. He is the author of Brave Men, Gentle Heroes: American Fathers and Sons in World War II and Vietnam.

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Customer Reviews

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( 8 )
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Sort by: Showing all of 8 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 19, 2010

    A balanced insightful exploration of a complicated man

    Once again Michael Takiff takes the reader on fabulous journey drawn on the recollections of those who know the stories best. These balanced interviews capture the essence of America's most fascinating tragic hero; Bill Clinton. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the man and every political junkie.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 17, 2010

    Highly recommended

    "A Complicated Man" by Michael Takiff, an engrossing read, is a major addition to Clinton lore. Seeing Clinton through the eyes of those who have interacted with him, we get a complete and penetrating view of this iconic figure. This book rates a minimum of five stars.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 16, 2010

    Must Read

    If you want to increase your understanding of one of the most influential leaders of the last 50 years, you need to hear it from those who knew him best. This 360-view of Bill Clinton enables you to see not only what happened when, but to see it from the many perspectives of those around him. Likely to change your perecptions by providing you with facts and perspectives, not "spin". If it is true that the truth lies in the middle, this may just be the middle.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 18, 2012

    A Complicated Man, is a four hundred page book about a previou

    A Complicated Man, is a four hundred page book about a previous president of the United States, Bill Clinton. It’s goal is to explain more about the man Bill Clinton, and his interesting term of office as the United States president. The book also tries to accomplish it’s goal in a non-biased way. However, in my opinion, A Complicated Man fails to live up to such a standard.
    This book was highly interesting me, because it was the first book I read that used more quotes than writing from the actual author. The author of the book, Michael Takiff, has obviously worked his tail off reading, and conducting interviews to construct his book on Clinton. In fact, Takiff used about forty pages of notes describing where he got his information and the People he quoted ranged from Clinton’s personal friends, to people who worked with him, to political enemies. Since biographies are usually not interesting for me, it was shocking how interesting this book was compared to how interesting I thought it would be.
    Besides interesting me with his amazing amount of quotes, the author also frustrated me with some of the thoughts he imputed, and several quotes that he included. The book quoted political and personal friends at the very least, twice as much as it quoted people who did not agree with Clinton. Another thing, When he added a comment by an opponent, it was usually addressed in one of the next quotes. However, when a quote was hostile towards a Republican, the author would typically not include a quote defending or explaining the Republican side. Besides the quotes, some of the authors own thoughts were hostile toward Republicans. Take for example, this quote talking about the outcome of Bill Clinton’s failures, resulting in Bush Jr. getting into office.
    “Bill’s dalliance with Monica, therefore, cost the nation not only what might have been done between January 1998 and January 2001 but what might have been done, and what was done instead, over the eight years that followed (George Bush Jr.’s presidential term): instead of responsible fiscal stewardship, endless red ink. Instead of a budget surplus bolstering Social Security or funding education and infrastructure, trillions squandered on upper-income tax cuts and an unnecessary war. In place of a Federal Emergency Management Agency run by competent professionals, a dumping ground for political hacks- thus, instead of a timely, compassionate response to a natural disaster, the drowning of New Orleans. Instead of judicious use of America’s armed forces, an ill-begotten, counterproductive war, entered into deceitfully and conducted unforgivably. Instead of an America respected around the world, an America reviled around the world….” Page 394
    This is a huge chunk of text, all aimed like a loaded shotgun at Bush. Takiff basically suggested that if Gore had been in office instead, almost nothing bad would have happened, and that Bush basically ruined the country. How could he possibly know what Gore would have done? For all the author knows, Gore could have done the exact same thing. Finally, throughout the book, people who disagreed with Clinton’s policies were described as hating Clinton. Page four and five have a good example. The author suggests that Republicans hated Clinton for making policies in an area which Republicans usually dominated. Also this quote from pages four and five is disturbing
    “ was it that Republicans simply could not accept the fact that their most prized possession, the presidency, had been taken from them.?”
    Michael is suggesting that most Republicans hated Clinton for being a democrat president in a long line of republican presidents. Yes, there is a possibility that some Republicans hated him for this reason. But the author’s generalization stating that all Republicans hated him for this reason, is just plain wrong. I have no problem with Clinton ( except for his trouble with keeping his pants on) as a person, but I did not like many of his policies that I now better understand as I have gotten older. Michael could have easily suggested that some Republicans disliked Clinton for policy reasons, implying that he either does not understand the conservative perspective, or he wishes to belittle conservatives by imputing a petty reason for their dislike of Clinton.
    In spite of these small grievances, I really enjoyed the book. It gave a very detailed history of Clinton, starting at childhood up to present day. I also respect the Author’s attempt at being non-biased. Many authors for both political parties do not even try to avoid bias. I highly respect the author for trying hard to not be biased.
    Out of five stars, I think I would give this book a 3.5. I would also suggest this book to people who enjoy political books that are seventeen and older, as some of the scenes described in the section covering Clinton’s affair are a bit graphic. To sum everything up, this was a good book, with a good attempt at removing bias, even though I do not believe that Takiff succeeded. and I would definitely read it aga

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    Posted June 5, 2011

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    Posted October 25, 2010

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    Posted June 27, 2011

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    Posted December 23, 2012

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