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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
The first 200 pages and last 70 were amazing, inspiring, and emotional.
This book is everything I needed in these crazy times we are living in. I laughed, I cried, and I go forward knowing that we are stronger together and love does indeed trump hate. There are plenty of people who say she shouldn’t have written this book. They’re wrong. There are plenty who say she blames everyone but herself in this book. They’re wrong. I encourage everyone to read this to gain insight not just on the election but this incredible candidate and human being. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, this book gives valuable insight.
I was a fan before I read the book, but now I consider her a personal hero.
took me a long time to get through this because I got too sad and too angry at the world a lot. At one point I was even angry at Hillary for not going with the "new way" the race was going and then I realized I was upset at her for trying to focus on problems and finding solutions and not with petty media tactics; I apologize.
I think that most of us (and certainly everyone I know and respect) wish that WHAT HAPPENED didn't happen. Unfortunately for the world, and especially for the US, it did... but how and why, and what can we take away from that as a lesson for the future?
Hillary Clinton spent about eight months reflecting on why she lost the election including taking a long, hard look at herself, her campaign and what she could have done better/differently. Yes, there were statements she could have phrased better, or situations she should have handled differently, however, it's clear now as it was then (November 2016) that she was shafted and robbed of the presidency, not just because of the ridiculously archaic electoral college system, but mainly owing to three influencing factors:
1. James Comey (various issues, but the kiss of death to HRC's campaign was his statement released 11 says before election day)
2. Russian interference
3. The media giving disproportionate attention to the "email scandal" and normalising Trump when he is anything but.
Having followed the election closely including watching all three debates, there wasn't an awful lot of new information regarding these issues, but I learnt a lot more about her policies which, ironically, received little coverage during the campaign. Also, a lot more information about the primaries and Bernie Sanders' policies and politics. There was a time I thought (or had heard) that he was a viable candidate for the presidency. Crumbs, not a chance.
After reading WHAT HAPPENED I have even less understanding/sympathy for people who said they couldn't/wouldn't/wouldn't want to vote for Hillary Clinton. I'm not talking about Trump supporters. It's the people who didn't vote at all, or voted for Stein or Johnson, or wrote in another name - they helped Trump get elected and are responsible for the mess the country is in. What a disgrace.
At some point in the book Clinton says that she's had to come to terms with the fact that there are millions of voters out there who stated that they simply don't "like" her and hence couldn't bring themselves to vote for her.
It's mind boggling! Do people think they're picking their flatmate??
Did anyone in Europe LIKE Margaret Thatcher?? Or Angela Merkel? Or Theresa May? Or Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (Switzerland)? Of course not! There is nothing particularly "likeable" about any of these women (nor m/any male politicians, bar Macron and Trudeau), and who cares??
Europeans seem to have a different understanding of what they want from a head of state, and what kind of qualifications, intellect, experience and temperament will make a competent leader, irrespective of their policies, and in the 21st century they certainly no longer care whether they're electing a man or a woman.
WHAT HAPPENED is a factual account of what went on, but it's also a very emotional read; it made me angry and sad, but also hopeful that following this mess, people in the US will make better choices in the future.
I never cared much for HRC as a person in the past, only as a politician, but after reading this, I actually really LIKE her!! :-)
Hillary Clinton spent about eight months reflecting on why she lost the election including taking a long, hard look at herself, her campaign and what she could have done better/differently. Yes, there were statements she could have phrased better, or situations she should have handled differently, however, it's clear now as it was then (November 2016) that she was shafted and robbed of the presidency, not just because of the ridiculously archaic electoral college system, but mainly owing to three influencing factors:
1. James Comey (various issues, but the kiss of death to HRC's campaign was his statement released 11 says before election day)
2. Russian interference
3. The media giving disproportionate attention to the "email scandal" and normalising Trump when he is anything but.
Having followed the election closely including watching all three debates, there wasn't an awful lot of new information regarding these issues, but I learnt a lot more about her policies which, ironically, received little coverage during the campaign. Also, a lot more information about the primaries and Bernie Sanders' policies and politics. There was a time I thought (or had heard) that he was a viable candidate for the presidency. Crumbs, not a chance.
After reading WHAT HAPPENED I have even less understanding/sympathy for people who said they couldn't/wouldn't/wouldn't want to vote for Hillary Clinton. I'm not talking about Trump supporters. It's the people who didn't vote at all, or voted for Stein or Johnson, or wrote in another name - they helped Trump get elected and are responsible for the mess the country is in. What a disgrace.
At some point in the book Clinton says that she's had to come to terms with the fact that there are millions of voters out there who stated that they simply don't "like" her and hence couldn't bring themselves to vote for her.
It's mind boggling! Do people think they're picking their flatmate??
Did anyone in Europe LIKE Margaret Thatcher?? Or Angela Merkel? Or Theresa May? Or Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (Switzerland)? Of course not! There is nothing particularly "likeable" about any of these women (nor m/any male politicians, bar Macron and Trudeau), and who cares??
Europeans seem to have a different understanding of what they want from a head of state, and what kind of qualifications, intellect, experience and temperament will make a competent leader, irrespective of their policies, and in the 21st century they certainly no longer care whether they're electing a man or a woman.
WHAT HAPPENED is a factual account of what went on, but it's also a very emotional read; it made me angry and sad, but also hopeful that following this mess, people in the US will make better choices in the future.
I never cared much for HRC as a person in the past, only as a politician, but after reading this, I actually really LIKE her!! :-)
Best for: Anyone who is a fan of Secretary Clinton; anyone who isn’t a fan of Secretary Clinton; anyone interested in learning more about how we can prevent something like Trump from happening again.
In a nutshell: First major-party woman nominee for President of the US loses to an ignorant charlatan and seeks to figure out why.
Worth quoting:
“Throughout the 2016 campaign, my staff would come to me wide-eyed. ‘You’ll never believe what Trump said today. It was vile.’ I always believed it. Not just because of who Trump is but because of who we can be at our worst. We’ve seen it too many times to be surprised.”
“Something I wish every man across America understood is how much fear accompanies women throughout our lives.”
“I’ve always believed that it’s dangerous to make big promises if you have no idea how you’re going to keep them. When you don’t deliver, it will make people even more cynical about government.”
“Many in the press and political chattering class marveled at how Teflon-coated Trump seemed to be, ignoring their own role in making him so.”
Why I chose it: I voted for Secretary Clinton, both in the primary in my state (which didn’t count, because Washington uses the horribly inaccessible caucus system) and in the general election. I was heartbroken when she lost. I bought this book the week it came out, but could only bring myself to start reading it this year.
Review: I think this book is mostly perfect for what it is. It’s a post-mortem but it’s also a celebration. It’s a glimpse into what we are missing out on because of 40,000 votes in three states, because the fear in the hearts of some outweighed the optimism in the hearts of others.
Secretary Clinton starts with Trump’s inauguration and then jumps back to deciding to run again after losing the primary to President Obama in 2008. She takes the reader through her decision-making process, and from there jumps from topic to topic, looking at what it means to be a woman in politics, what it means to be HER in politics.
She also doesn’t hold back when talking about her perceptions of how she was treated as compared to the men she ran against - first to Sen. Sanders and then to Trump. And I will say I have to agree with how Sen. Sanders seemed to be allowed to just say whatever and was fawned over, while Secretary Clinton would offer a more realistic version and be slammed for it. It was so frustrating. I also appreciated her discussion of gun violence and the stark difference between her position and Sen. Sanders.
The part that is most frustrating to read, however, is how she was treated by and in relation to Trump. She spends an entire chapter on the emails / private server issue, and frankly I wish everyone were required to read it before offering an opinion on the topic. And she gets into very specific detail about why, in the end, she ultimately lost.
I saw other reviewers in the media suggest she doesn’t take responsibility for her loss, but that’s not right. She takes responsibility for the part she should, such as not recognizing fully how much fear and anger were the focus of some people (and rightfully so). But she then appropriately points out how voter suppression, the Russian influence on social media, and the Comey letter less than two weeks before the election really did have a measurable impact. It’s frustrating and made me want to throw things more than once.
One area that she doesn’t talk about as much in the ‘why’ section is misogyny. She definitely devotes time to it throughout, but I do think that there were plenty of people who perhaps stayed home because they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a woman. They might not recognize that consciously, but it’s there.
The book didn’t leave me despondent, although I was angry when I finished it. It, for me, was just another reminder of how much work we all have to do to keep the current president from causing more damage than he already has.
In a nutshell: First major-party woman nominee for President of the US loses to an ignorant charlatan and seeks to figure out why.
Worth quoting:
“Throughout the 2016 campaign, my staff would come to me wide-eyed. ‘You’ll never believe what Trump said today. It was vile.’ I always believed it. Not just because of who Trump is but because of who we can be at our worst. We’ve seen it too many times to be surprised.”
“Something I wish every man across America understood is how much fear accompanies women throughout our lives.”
“I’ve always believed that it’s dangerous to make big promises if you have no idea how you’re going to keep them. When you don’t deliver, it will make people even more cynical about government.”
“Many in the press and political chattering class marveled at how Teflon-coated Trump seemed to be, ignoring their own role in making him so.”
Why I chose it: I voted for Secretary Clinton, both in the primary in my state (which didn’t count, because Washington uses the horribly inaccessible caucus system) and in the general election. I was heartbroken when she lost. I bought this book the week it came out, but could only bring myself to start reading it this year.
Review: I think this book is mostly perfect for what it is. It’s a post-mortem but it’s also a celebration. It’s a glimpse into what we are missing out on because of 40,000 votes in three states, because the fear in the hearts of some outweighed the optimism in the hearts of others.
Secretary Clinton starts with Trump’s inauguration and then jumps back to deciding to run again after losing the primary to President Obama in 2008. She takes the reader through her decision-making process, and from there jumps from topic to topic, looking at what it means to be a woman in politics, what it means to be HER in politics.
She also doesn’t hold back when talking about her perceptions of how she was treated as compared to the men she ran against - first to Sen. Sanders and then to Trump. And I will say I have to agree with how Sen. Sanders seemed to be allowed to just say whatever and was fawned over, while Secretary Clinton would offer a more realistic version and be slammed for it. It was so frustrating. I also appreciated her discussion of gun violence and the stark difference between her position and Sen. Sanders.
The part that is most frustrating to read, however, is how she was treated by and in relation to Trump. She spends an entire chapter on the emails / private server issue, and frankly I wish everyone were required to read it before offering an opinion on the topic. And she gets into very specific detail about why, in the end, she ultimately lost.
I saw other reviewers in the media suggest she doesn’t take responsibility for her loss, but that’s not right. She takes responsibility for the part she should, such as not recognizing fully how much fear and anger were the focus of some people (and rightfully so). But she then appropriately points out how voter suppression, the Russian influence on social media, and the Comey letter less than two weeks before the election really did have a measurable impact. It’s frustrating and made me want to throw things more than once.
One area that she doesn’t talk about as much in the ‘why’ section is misogyny. She definitely devotes time to it throughout, but I do think that there were plenty of people who perhaps stayed home because they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a woman. They might not recognize that consciously, but it’s there.
The book didn’t leave me despondent, although I was angry when I finished it. It, for me, was just another reminder of how much work we all have to do to keep the current president from causing more damage than he already has.
A very powerful book, that's gone a long way to change my opinion of HRC. Prior to reading this, my general impression of her in the 2016 election was "She was clearly the better option, but I don't think she would have made a particularly good President." However, after reading this, I've really come to appreciate exactly what people meant when they described the election as a competition between the most qualified candidate of all time vs. the least qualified candidate of all time. It's safe to say that I'll probably be wondering what might have been if HRC had won for the rest of my life.
It's also quite a scary, worrying read. HRC goes into incredible detail regarding the way the Russian Government influenced the election (plus European elections, and potentially Brexit), the influence of Fake News, the behaviour of Wikileaks, etc.. These are all things I was aware of previously, but the book puts into clear terms just how much of a major issue this is. It's terrifying, but at least I've now heard one major name in international politics discuss the issue seriously and in depth. Same goes for the issues of automation and artificial intelligence - This book is the first time I've heard a major politician go into detail on these issues, as well.
All in all, this is one of the best books I've read this year. I was listening to the audiobook version read by HRC, which was good quality. I thought her voice might get a little irritating, given that it was 16 hours long, but I didn't have any real issues.
It's also quite a scary, worrying read. HRC goes into incredible detail regarding the way the Russian Government influenced the election (plus European elections, and potentially Brexit), the influence of Fake News, the behaviour of Wikileaks, etc.. These are all things I was aware of previously, but the book puts into clear terms just how much of a major issue this is. It's terrifying, but at least I've now heard one major name in international politics discuss the issue seriously and in depth. Same goes for the issues of automation and artificial intelligence - This book is the first time I've heard a major politician go into detail on these issues, as well.
All in all, this is one of the best books I've read this year. I was listening to the audiobook version read by HRC, which was good quality. I thought her voice might get a little irritating, given that it was 16 hours long, but I didn't have any real issues.
So hard to relive the horror of the 2016 election and to learn even more evidence of how Trump and Russia heinously subverted our democracy, however, HRC leaves us with the determination to move forward. Excited to see what she chooses to do next!
God, I wish this woman was our president. She's knowledgeable, has common sense, fights for what's right and just, and I really don't give a shit about what she did with her emails and just like her, I would rather never hear that word again. Especially considering our current president sexually assaults women and has gotten no punishment for it. Use your personal email any day, girl.
My only regret is that I listened to the audio version. While I love that it's read by Hillary, I need to accept that fact that audiobooks and I don't get along. It was very easy to get distracted when she went into depth about policy and it's true that she has a somewhat monotonous tone. Despite all that, I'm still with her.
My only regret is that I listened to the audio version. While I love that it's read by Hillary, I need to accept that fact that audiobooks and I don't get along. It was very easy to get distracted when she went into depth about policy and it's true that she has a somewhat monotonous tone. Despite all that, I'm still with her.
Difficult to read at first as it drudges up a lot of bad memories of the election, but a lot of good info on what happened on the inside of the campaign straight from the horse's mouth, and what she thought really cost her the election. Learned quite a bit about the election, Hillary, and the media, that sadly was rarely/never covered during the campaign cycle.