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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
I've waited a few weeks post-finish to really write my thoughts about What Happened. At the rate the news cycle keeps unraveling details about what we now know happened, it makes it more and more feel like her words are farther in the past than they should be.
People told me I would cry and feel like wounds were being ripped open, but honestly, I didn't feel that way. Sure, I felt that sting of disappointment at what I hoped would be the first female President at a time when my daughter is becoming aware. That feeling that Neil and I had somehow let her down is still very real (ex-Catholic guilt is a thing).
But the thing I felt most was progress. Hear me out. If this year has taught us anything aside from the horror of how bad, scary, and tragic things can really be, it's how much change can be affected by us as individuals (even though some days it's really like screaming into the void). Almost immediately after inauguration, being a woman in this country, and a woman who has always wondered how the women's movement would move forward in my generation, felt like being shot from a gun. Ordinary people in towns all across America organized. Women started filing to run for office. Office workers spent their lunch breaks organizing protests and postcard campaigns. And then #metoo happened. Things are moving forward, and although we didn't see our first female President now, I feel the wave that is coming up alongside Hillary Clinton is bigger than we even realize yet. And that is going to be very exciting to watch in our lifetime.
People told me I would cry and feel like wounds were being ripped open, but honestly, I didn't feel that way. Sure, I felt that sting of disappointment at what I hoped would be the first female President at a time when my daughter is becoming aware. That feeling that Neil and I had somehow let her down is still very real (ex-Catholic guilt is a thing).
But the thing I felt most was progress. Hear me out. If this year has taught us anything aside from the horror of how bad, scary, and tragic things can really be, it's how much change can be affected by us as individuals (even though some days it's really like screaming into the void). Almost immediately after inauguration, being a woman in this country, and a woman who has always wondered how the women's movement would move forward in my generation, felt like being shot from a gun. Ordinary people in towns all across America organized. Women started filing to run for office. Office workers spent their lunch breaks organizing protests and postcard campaigns. And then #metoo happened. Things are moving forward, and although we didn't see our first female President now, I feel the wave that is coming up alongside Hillary Clinton is bigger than we even realize yet. And that is going to be very exciting to watch in our lifetime.
This book made me both laugh and cry. But it also made me proud to have been a volunteer on this campaign, and to have been able to vote for a candidate that I truly believed in. Thank you Hillary for writing this book, but more importantly, thank you for running for president, and for devoting your life to helping everyone that you can. I am still with you!
Had I marked everything important in yellow highlighter, everything that made me cry in blue, and everything that made me angry in red, and so on, I could fan a rainbow.
Disclaimer: I was a Sanders state-level delegate during the Democratic primary, a Voter Protection team volunteer throughout the general election, and a Clinton campaign volunteer.
Many people have complained that Clinton didn't take responsibility in this book for losing the election, that she is projecting her loss onto other entities.
Those people did not read the same book I did. Clinton mentions her failures, inability to connect, close-handedness and wariness, throughout the book. There isn't a "Where I Screwed Up" chapter, because those errors find their place in each and every other chapter, and relate to other influences on the election and therefore are better suited to being addressed there.
Rather than rehashing those arguments, however, I want to talk about where the book shines. It is a personal account of what encouraged her to run, what kept her going, how she handled loss. It talks about the people she talked with and how they influenced what she did, and how she worked to connect with others. Her personality comes through in this writing, as opposed to Hard Choices, which read more like an itinerary given a bit of narrative dressing.
It is also an intellectual and wonkish account. It describes all the influences on why she lost. It reads like death by a thousand cuts. Whether her own failures, media focused on a circus or creating a false equivalency in candidate quality, a perpetual smear campaign by the Republican Party, an FBI at war with itself, a disengaged populace, or foreign interference due to a grudge, all have an effect, even in pieces, on who decides how to vote on Election Day.
And that is why I agree with her assessment that the reason critics wanted her to fall on the sword and take sole responsibility for the loss is because introspection is hard and can reveal uncomfortable truths. If the 2016 election is all Clinton's fault, then no one else has to figure out where they screwed up. People don't need to be engaged in politics. We don't need to be smart consumers of media. Groups don't need to have plans on how to accomplish their goals.
Clinton isn't asking anyone for a re-do of the election in this book. She is asking everyone to be engaged and be part of the body politic in solving our country's problems. And she's hoping that by publishing the problems she ran into can provide a warning to others so they can succeed where she did not.
Many people have complained that Clinton didn't take responsibility in this book for losing the election, that she is projecting her loss onto other entities.
Those people did not read the same book I did. Clinton mentions her failures, inability to connect, close-handedness and wariness, throughout the book. There isn't a "Where I Screwed Up" chapter, because those errors find their place in each and every other chapter, and relate to other influences on the election and therefore are better suited to being addressed there.
Rather than rehashing those arguments, however, I want to talk about where the book shines. It is a personal account of what encouraged her to run, what kept her going, how she handled loss. It talks about the people she talked with and how they influenced what she did, and how she worked to connect with others. Her personality comes through in this writing, as opposed to Hard Choices, which read more like an itinerary given a bit of narrative dressing.
It is also an intellectual and wonkish account. It describes all the influences on why she lost. It reads like death by a thousand cuts. Whether her own failures, media focused on a circus or creating a false equivalency in candidate quality, a perpetual smear campaign by the Republican Party, an FBI at war with itself, a disengaged populace, or foreign interference due to a grudge, all have an effect, even in pieces, on who decides how to vote on Election Day.
And that is why I agree with her assessment that the reason critics wanted her to fall on the sword and take sole responsibility for the loss is because introspection is hard and can reveal uncomfortable truths. If the 2016 election is all Clinton's fault, then no one else has to figure out where they screwed up. People don't need to be engaged in politics. We don't need to be smart consumers of media. Groups don't need to have plans on how to accomplish their goals.
Clinton isn't asking anyone for a re-do of the election in this book. She is asking everyone to be engaged and be part of the body politic in solving our country's problems. And she's hoping that by publishing the problems she ran into can provide a warning to others so they can succeed where she did not.
I was subjected to the ultimate insult. My wife said that I was like all men. This came about because I said, not long after I started to read "[b:What Happened|34114362|What Happened|Hillary Rodham Clinton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1501171573s/34114362.jpg|55143253]" that it was whiny. So let me be clear here, for the record, the beginning of this book is whiny. Further, while I'm sticking my neck out, the book is clearly written for a female audience.
Before you reach the end of the book, though, I learned things that I didn't know before. More importantly, maybe, was that I heard what things that Hillary learned that she didn't know before. Finally, though, it helped cement my belief in progressive policy and reinforced my belief that I voted for the right person when I voted for her.
I once had a conversation with Hank Stram about his book [b:They're Playing My Game|2055572|They're Playing My Game|Hank Stram|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328750025s/2055572.jpg|2060751]. He said something like "You gotta put in a lot of names. People push the book if they see their name in it." Hillary must have heard him. There are a lot of names dropped. If you took out the whining at the beginning and the name dropping near the end, you'd have an interesting and informative book - of interest to men and women.
Before you reach the end of the book, though, I learned things that I didn't know before. More importantly, maybe, was that I heard what things that Hillary learned that she didn't know before. Finally, though, it helped cement my belief in progressive policy and reinforced my belief that I voted for the right person when I voted for her.
I once had a conversation with Hank Stram about his book [b:They're Playing My Game|2055572|They're Playing My Game|Hank Stram|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328750025s/2055572.jpg|2060751]. He said something like "You gotta put in a lot of names. People push the book if they see their name in it." Hillary must have heard him. There are a lot of names dropped. If you took out the whining at the beginning and the name dropping near the end, you'd have an interesting and informative book - of interest to men and women.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
We really missed out on a President who would have cared about all Americans. The book drags a bit in places because she's such a policy nerd, but it also offers a lot in the way of hope.
A lot has been said and written about What Happened, and I won't add much more. What I will say is this: It is not a book by an angry, bitter, "nasty" woman. People have very strong feelings about Hillary Clinton. Some will be happy to bash this book - often without having read it - as a self-indulgent tome by a woman who cannot be a good loser. It is not. The book is about her loss, yes, how could it not be, and her bewilderment, sadness and regret. There is some blame, but not only on others. She tells her story, which does not only encompass the past two years. Anecdotes of her family, her colleagues, her professional and personal existence make What Happened a book about a life, not only a campaign. She focuses on people and her achievements and goals, which highlights how incredibly qualified she would have been and provides a stark contrast to the current president. Some say Clinton should fade away, be quiet, accept her defeat. The latter she is forced to do, but not the former. She lost the electoral vote, yes, but she gained the title of the first woman who even came close to attaining the US presidency. As much as she may have riled some, she inspired many others.
And for what it is worth, I'm still with her.
Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
And for what it is worth, I'm still with her.
Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
It took me a long time to read this, not because it was a hard read, in terms of interest or style (though I have some issues with its style), but because it was so hard to read this as the news cycle constantly reminds me of the world I am actually living in, and this book examines the background and reasons for that world, and all the while I see glimpses of what could have been. Not a perfect candidate or campaign, but infinitely better than the end result of what did happen.