false 820077 11 <b>Read an excerpt from <i>A Woman in Charge</i></b><br/> <i>A Woman in Charge</i> is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Carl Bernstein's illuminating account of Hillary Rodham Clinton, revealing the complex of motivations and machinations behind her extraordinary life and career. Drawing on over 200 interviews with Clinton associates (both colleagues and adversaries), as well as major pieces written by and about the former First Lady, Bernstein has constructed an indelible portrait of perhaps the most polarizing figure in American politics, from her midwestern roots to her own presidential ambitions; but don't take our word for it--read an excerpt from the first chapter and decide for yourself. <p> <p/> <b>Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.<br/> Chapter One: Formation</b> <p/><i> I adored [my father] when I was a little girl. I would eagerly watch for him from a window and run down the street to meet him on his way home after work. With his encouragement and coaching, I played baseball, football and basketball. I tried to bring home good grades to win his approval.<br/> -Living History</i> <p/> Hillary Rodham's childhood was not the suburban idyll suggested by the shaded front porch and gently sloping lawn of what was once the family home at 235 Wisner Street in Park Ridge, Illinois. In this leafy environment of postwar promise and prosperity, the Rodhams were distinctly a family of odd ducks, isolated from their neighbors by the difficult character of her father, Hugh Rodham, a sour, unfulfilled man whose children suffered his relentless, demeaning sarcasm and misanthropic inclination, endured his embarrassing parsimony, and silently accepted his humiliation and verbal abuse of their mother. <p/> Yet as harsh, provocative, and abusive as Rodham was, he and his wife, the former Dorothy Howell, imparted to their children a pervasive sense of family and love for one another that in Hillary's case is of singular importance. When Bill Clinton and Hillary honeymooned in Acapulco in 1975, her parents and her two brothers, Hughie (Hugh Jr.) and Tony, stayed in the same hotel as the bride and groom. <p/> Dorothy and Hugh Rodham, despite the debilitating pathology and undertow of tension in their marriage (discerned readily by visitors to their home), were assertive parents who, at mid-century, intended to convey to their children an inheritance secured by old-fashioned values and verities. They believed (and preached, in their different traditions) that with discipline, hard work, encouragement (often delivered in an unconventional manner), and enough education at home, school, and church, a child could pursue almost any dream. In the case of their only daughter, Hillary Diane, born October 26, 1947, this would pay enormous dividends, sending her into the world beyond Park Ridge with a steadiness and sense of purpose that eluded her two younger brothers. But it came at a price: Hugh imposed a patriarchal unpleasantness and ritual authoritarianism on his household, mitigated only by the distinctly modern notion that Hillary would not be limited in opportunity or skills by the fact that she was a girl. <p/> Hugh Rodham, the son of Welsh immigrants, was sullen, tight-fisted, contrarian, and given to exaggeration about his own accomplishments. Appearances of a sort were important to him: he always drove a new Lincoln or Cadillac. But he wouldn't hesitate to spit tobacco juice through an open window. He chewed his cud habitually, voted a straight Republican ticket, and was infuriatingly slow to praise his children. "He was rougher than a corncob and gruff as could be," an acquaintance once said. Nurturance and praise were left largely to his wife, whose intelligence and abilities he mocked and whose gentler nature he often trampled. "Don't let the doorknob hit you in the ass on your way out," he frequently said at the dinner table when she'd get angry and threaten to leave. She never left, but some friends and relatives were perplexed at Dorothy's decision to stay married when her husband's abuse seemed so unbearable. <p/> "She would never say, That's it. I've had it," said Betsy Ebeling,* Hillary's closest childhood friend, who witnessed many contentious scenes at the Rodham dinner table. Sometimes the doorknob remark would break the tension and everybody would laugh. But not always. By the time Hillary had reached her teens, her father seemed defined by his mean edges-he had almost no recognizable enthusiasms or pretense to lightness as he descended into continuous bullying, ill-humor, complaint, and dejection. <br/><br/> <hr class="bucketDivider" noshade="true" size="1"> <br/><br/> 1080454 5 6 2007 A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton total:366|5:48|4:165|3:123|2:25|1:5| 366 1324 554 111 4 6 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 11:37:06 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 13:33:41 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 1 true false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 17:04:49 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 17:16:45 -0800 2008
Let me tell you - HRC is a completely kick-ass woman, much more so than I'd ever thought. She's not an easy person to get behind, and this book make an unintentional arg...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 07:18:02 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 07:28:53 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 08 17:59:16 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 18:42:11 -0700 2007
I found the section on her childhood illuminating, and as an amateur armchair headshrinker I thought it makes her attraction to Bill (and his to her) make perfect sense. I found the section on the White ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 12 10:16:32 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 27 20:11:24 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 1 false false Sun Sep 30 10:41:42 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 30 10:43:39 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 11:20:41 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 11:22:23 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 12:19:05 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 28 07:53:53 -0700 2007
]]> 4 0 false true Tue Feb 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 01 05:51:08 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 13:22:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Apr 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 25 17:11:47 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 25 17:19:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 09:25:36 -0800 2008 Wed Apr 16 06:52:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 30 22:43:34 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 18 21:17:31 -0800 2007 Anyway, Bernstein does a great and fair job of dissecting Hillary and you find out that she has a lifelong commitment to public service, and the wit and grit and smarts to be a...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Oct 11 06:25:17 -0700 2007 Mon Dec 17 19:09:12 -0800 2007
Sarcasm aside, I picked a bad time of year (with the holidays upon us) to read a 550-page tome focused on politics. 'Nuff said.

But for what it's worth, this book is captivating in its own way. I was fascin...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Sep 25 16:11:03 -0700 2007 Mon Jan 21 13:34:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Apr 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 19 09:38:46 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 19 09:38:46 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Dec 17 07:12:40 -0800 2008 Tue Jun 02 16:59:05 -0700 2009 A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, is a stunning portrait of Hillary Rodham Clinton and shows us, as nothing else has, the true trajectory of her life and career with its zigzag bursts of risks taken and safety sought. Marshaling all the skills and energy that ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Aug 27 05:36:04 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 18 14:31:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Dec 14 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 20:03:49 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 20:09:02 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 17:04:49 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 17:57:47 -0800 2008 Granted, I am not done yet, but SO FAR I have found her life completely fascinating and I am more convinced that the right-wing has so su...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 04 18:09:15 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 22 15:51:57 -0700 2008 more...]]>