HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton
Jonathan Allen, Amie Parnes, 2014
Crown Publishing
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780804136754
Summary
The mesmerizing story of Hillary Clinton's political rebirth, based on eyewitness accounts from deep inside her inner circle.
Hillary Clinton’s surprising defeat in the 2008 Democratic primary brought her to the nadir of her political career, vanquished by a much younger opponent whose message of change and cutting-edge tech team ran circles around her stodgy campaign. And yet, six years later, she has reemerged as an even more powerful and influential figure, a formidable stateswoman and the presumed front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, marking one of the great political comebacks in history.
The story of Hillary’s phoenixlike rise is at the heart of HRC, a riveting political biography that journeys into the heart of “Hillaryland” to discover a brilliant strategist at work. Masterfully unfolded by Politico’s Jonathan Allen and The Hill’s Amie Parnes from more than two hundred top-access interviews with Hillary’s intimates, colleagues, supporters, and enemies, HRC portrays a seasoned operator who negotiates political and diplomatic worlds with equal savvy.
Loathed by the Obama team in the wake of the primary, Hillary worked to become the president’s greatest ally, their fates intertwined in the work of reestablishing America on the world stage. HRC puts readers in the room with Hillary during the most intense and pivotal moments of this era, as she mulls the president-elect’s offer to join the administration, pulls the strings to build a coalition for his war against Libya, and scrambles to deal with the fallout from the terrible events in Benghazi—all while keeping one eye focused on 2016.
HRC offers a rare look inside the merciless Clinton political machine, as Bill Clinton handled the messy business of avenging Hillary’s primary loss while she tried to remain above the partisan fray. Exploring her friendships and alliances with Robert Gates, David Petraeus, Leon Panetta, Joe Biden, and the president himself, Allen and Parnes show how Hillary fundamentally transformed the State Department through the force of her celebrity and her unparalleled knowledge of how power works in Washington.
Filled with deep reporting and immersive storytelling, this remarkable portrait of the most important female politician in American history is an essential inside look at the woman who may be our next president. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
JONATHAN ALLEN covers the White House and the 2016 presidential campaign for Bloomberg News. An award-winning reporter, he has also written extensively about Congress and national politics, and he appears frequently as a political analyst on national television news programs. He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Stephanie, and their children, Asher and Emma. (From the publisher.)
AMIE PARNES is the White House correspondent for The Hill newspaper in Washington, where she covers the Obama Administration. A ten-year veteran of political journalism, she traveled with the Clinton, Obama and McCain campaigns while covering the 2008 presidential race for Politico. She appears frequently on MSNBC and has also been featured on CNN, Fox News and other networks. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
H R C begins with a chapter about what the authors call “Hillary’s Hit List,” which seems meant to play into dark-side narratives from the Whitewater days that emphasized what reporters saw as her penchant for blaming enemies for her travails and those of her husband. But the book gradually builds into a largely sympathetic portrait of Mrs. Clinton as a smart and tireless A student, supportive of her teammates, loyal to President Obama and skilled at navigating the political and bureaucratic minefields of Washington.... [HRC] provides useful context and intelligent analysis, and a highly readable account of her tenure at Foggy Bottom... pumped full of colorful you-are-there details.
Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Deeply reported and ably written by journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, the book is a step-by-step recounting of Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, but it’s also a revealing window into the le Carre-like layers of intrigue that develop when a celebrity politician who is married to another celebrity politician loses to yet another celebrity politician, and goes on to serve the politician who defeated her.... Hillary’s personality does not emerge vividly in the book, possibly because she does not appear to have given the authors much access. But the assessment of her tenure feels fair, and after finishing HRC I understood, in a way I had not before, how and why the Clinton union has evolved into a juggernaut with such formidable “power to reward and punish.
Liza Mundi - Washington Post
An entertaining, illuminating look at Hillary Rodham Clinton's time as secretary of State. The book shows her as dogged, but also salty, bawdy and funny.... A character-driven psychodrama, chockablock with sweaty descriptions of its players… It's no easy feat to wring page-turning narrative juice from four years of state craft, but Allen and Parnes have relied on 200 sources…to get them the gossipy goods.
Los Angeles Times
A thoroughly reported and well-written chronicle of Clinton’s comeback and her tenure at the State Department.
Christian Science Monitor
HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton manages the rare feat of being both important and entertaining. It opens with a juicy chapter detailing the punishment and reward of Bill and Hillary’s political enemies and friends. But the meat of HRC is its narration of her role in tackling crises in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Libya—an amazingly tumultuous period that provides the best preview of what a Hillary Clinton presidency might look like, at least for foreign policy.
New York Magazine
Written by two authors intimately familiar with the political process—Allen is the senior Washington correspondent for Politico and Parnes the White House correspondent for The Hill newspaper in Washington, DC—this book surveys the landscape from Hillary Clinton's primary defeat to her successes as secretary of state
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. Allen and Parnes write that many of the individuals who worked with Hillary Rodham Clinton—at all levels, even President Obama himself—"found themselves liking her more with each interaction, even if they had been worked over.” To what do you attribute this change of heart on the part of so many Clinton associates? Were you, as a reader of HRC affected by what one member of Robert Gates's inner circle called "the stages of Hillary"? In other words, did you experience a change of heart?
2. Follow-up to Question 1: Did this book alter your view of Hillary Rodham Clinton? Have you come away from HRC with a greater appreciation of her talents and / or inner character? Or has the book confirmed how you've always seen Clinton—whether it's positively or negatively?
3. Would Hillary make a good president?
4. HRC opens with what the authors call "Hillary's Hit List." How do you feel about the list, about the act of making the list, about the insistence of loyalty on the part of both of the Clintons?
5. Talk about what the authors refer to as Hillary Clinton's attempts at "rebranding" herself. What does that term mean? Why did she undertake such a challenge? Has she been successful—in the authors' views and in your own view?
6. One of the authors' sources said that Clinton is a woman with "a bias for action." What does that mean? Can you give instances of this trait during her sojourn at the State Department?
7. How do the authors treat the tragic killings in Benghazi, Libya, and Clinton's role in it? Does this book's account jibe with or differ from other accounts in the media?
8. How did Hillary Clinton's earlier life prepare her for her role at State...and her role as what the book refers to as "superstaffer" to President Obama?
9. Allen and Parnes point out that rather than delivering big successes (like a Middle East peace accord), Mrs. Clinton's successes were less glamorous, less encompassing achievements. She concentrated on restoring American's international image following the Iraq war. She also worked to improve the relationship between the State and Defense Departments. The authors write:
To the disappointment of even some of her most ardent supporters, Hillary’s legacy is not one of negotiating marquee peace deals or a new doctrine defining American foreign policy. Instead, it is in the workmanlike enhancement of diplomacy and development, alongside defense, in the exertion of American power, and it is in competent leadership of a massive government bureaucracy.
Is that observation a fair assessment of Hillary Clinton's legacy?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)