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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
I deliberately put this book off for awhile. I’m still in shock and denial about the 2016 Presidential election, and I’m definitely still full of rage. I knew this book would stoke that fire, but I also knew I couldn’t avoid it forever, so I picked it up at the end of the year hoping that it’d offer me some hope for the future in addition to contributing to the massive tumor growing in my soul, slowly choking off all light and goodness and trust in the world.
And, of course, HRC delivered. On both fronts.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be Hillary Clinton. The amount of hatred and vitriol she’s had to endure is utterly unbelievable, unwarranted, and seemingly unendurable. Yet she endures. Nasty woman that I am, HRC’s loss in 2016 was absolutely devastating for me. I simply cannot comprehend how, when presented with a choice between her and that bumbling, racist, misogynist, orange idiot, we chose the way we did. Or, more precisely, the Electoral College and Russia chose the way they did. (Another quick reminder here, in case you forgot, HRC won the popular vote and our antiquated system fucked us all anyway, and not for the first time).
As is her way, HRC maintained dignified and diplomatic composure in What Happened, even while opening up about the emotions, thoughts, and frustrations she experienced that she wasn’t able to share during her campaign. The story of what can only be described as her persecution and subsequent defeat in 2016 reminds me that we still have a long way to go when it comes to equality, justice, humanity, and truth…
It’s difficult to read this book for a number of reasons, but the one that stands out to me most is the stark contrast between what Clinton had planned for her presidency, and what we’re currently being force-fed and conned into by the Trump administration.
Despite all the lies and disparaging media coverage, Clinton seems to be a rational, practical, honest, and kind human being at heart. Apparently those are no longer characteristics that we value in our leaders. Unfortunately, that means we missed out on potential growth, progression, and positive change as a country in exchange for endless political train wrecks, astounding regression, and looming nuclear warfare.
Yet, after all is said and done, HRC finds a way to graciously and gracefully bring it back to love and kindness and moving forward. What a human.
As infuriating as all the details truly are, I do recommend this book and think it was very well written. In fact, I encourage everyone to read it and bear witness to what really happened in 2016.
And, of course, HRC delivered. On both fronts.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be Hillary Clinton. The amount of hatred and vitriol she’s had to endure is utterly unbelievable, unwarranted, and seemingly unendurable. Yet she endures. Nasty woman that I am, HRC’s loss in 2016 was absolutely devastating for me. I simply cannot comprehend how, when presented with a choice between her and that bumbling, racist, misogynist, orange idiot, we chose the way we did. Or, more precisely, the Electoral College and Russia chose the way they did. (Another quick reminder here, in case you forgot, HRC won the popular vote and our antiquated system fucked us all anyway, and not for the first time).
As is her way, HRC maintained dignified and diplomatic composure in What Happened, even while opening up about the emotions, thoughts, and frustrations she experienced that she wasn’t able to share during her campaign. The story of what can only be described as her persecution and subsequent defeat in 2016 reminds me that we still have a long way to go when it comes to equality, justice, humanity, and truth…
It’s difficult to read this book for a number of reasons, but the one that stands out to me most is the stark contrast between what Clinton had planned for her presidency, and what we’re currently being force-fed and conned into by the Trump administration.
Despite all the lies and disparaging media coverage, Clinton seems to be a rational, practical, honest, and kind human being at heart. Apparently those are no longer characteristics that we value in our leaders. Unfortunately, that means we missed out on potential growth, progression, and positive change as a country in exchange for endless political train wrecks, astounding regression, and looming nuclear warfare.
Yet, after all is said and done, HRC finds a way to graciously and gracefully bring it back to love and kindness and moving forward. What a human.
As infuriating as all the details truly are, I do recommend this book and think it was very well written. In fact, I encourage everyone to read it and bear witness to what really happened in 2016.
Well read (by Hillary) audiobook.
As with many non-fictions I am currently trying I felt it was overly wordy, however in this case it was the last few chapters that summarized the book best, as opposed to endless repetition of the start of the book.
It was ok to listen too, too many chapters seemed repetitive and backgrounds for me, I was more interested in the election process and less about a recap of H, but if that's what you want then it is definitely at least one more star.
As with many non-fictions I am currently trying I felt it was overly wordy, however in this case it was the last few chapters that summarized the book best, as opposed to endless repetition of the start of the book.
It was ok to listen too, too many chapters seemed repetitive and backgrounds for me, I was more interested in the election process and less about a recap of H, but if that's what you want then it is definitely at least one more star.
Hillary Rodham Clinton's WHAT HAPPENED is a candid, charming, and thoroughly emotionally exhausting memoir of a(n admittedly imperfect) campaign facing perfect storm.
I won't talk much about "what happened" in the sense of rehashing the election that happened so recently, few of us have had time to forget and move on, but I will say that WHAT HAPPENED is full of surprises even for someone who closely followed the Stronger Together campaign. Clinton shares the story of a woman determined to learn from her past mistakes by owning up to exactly what those mistakes were. No detail was too small for the head of Stronger Together not to overlook right down to having healthier snacks this time around. She talks about her campaign details (from trying to make sure her staff got to sleep in their own beds whenever possible to what her first order of business would be in the White House - infrastructure, if you're wondering) in such a way that I was disappointed never to have heard them over the loud cries of "Emails!"
WHAT HAPPENED gives readers (and voters) a closer look at a more human version of Hillary Clinton (which, by the way, I hate to even say because it implies that she was anything less than human on the campaign trail). I think it's a good read that all people could learn something from.
It's one of those books that I'd like for the die-hard "lock her up" discreditors of Clinton to read and see if they can still hate her with so much fire afterwards. And as for those of us who were fans all along, there's plenty in here that you don't already know.
I wish this Hillary Clinton ran for president. And I think she does too.
I won't talk much about "what happened" in the sense of rehashing the election that happened so recently, few of us have had time to forget and move on, but I will say that WHAT HAPPENED is full of surprises even for someone who closely followed the Stronger Together campaign. Clinton shares the story of a woman determined to learn from her past mistakes by owning up to exactly what those mistakes were. No detail was too small for the head of Stronger Together not to overlook right down to having healthier snacks this time around. She talks about her campaign details (from trying to make sure her staff got to sleep in their own beds whenever possible to what her first order of business would be in the White House - infrastructure, if you're wondering) in such a way that I was disappointed never to have heard them over the loud cries of "Emails!"
WHAT HAPPENED gives readers (and voters) a closer look at a more human version of Hillary Clinton (which, by the way, I hate to even say because it implies that she was anything less than human on the campaign trail). I think it's a good read that all people could learn something from.
It's one of those books that I'd like for the die-hard "lock her up" discreditors of Clinton to read and see if they can still hate her with so much fire afterwards. And as for those of us who were fans all along, there's plenty in here that you don't already know.
I wish this Hillary Clinton ran for president. And I think she does too.
Initially this book was painful to read, I felt the anguish of reliving the election (I can only imagine how it felt for She-Who-Should-Have-Been-Our-President); but as in therapy to find healing one must confront the pain. I laughed, I cried, I laughed and cried at the same time, and sometimes I had to walk away and let her words sit with me for several days...even weeks. But what an inspiration! I’ve admired her even when I was a young Republican and outwardly anti-Clinton. I am thankful she shared her perspective and her own process of healing. In concluding this book I feel as if I’ve just left her home after a long talk. I feel comforted and challenged about my own next steps. Thank you, Madame President!
Amazing book. I’ve never liked not disliked HRC but I have respected her. As I listened to her read the book, i could hear such compassion, pose, and world view I have yet to hear from any another politician.
The style of writing was excellent, it was linear with flashbacks, and giving what you really want to know up front.
It’s so open and accepting of her own flaws. Everyone should read this book, just for the quotes and book recommendations.
The style of writing was excellent, it was linear with flashbacks, and giving what you really want to know up front.
It’s so open and accepting of her own flaws. Everyone should read this book, just for the quotes and book recommendations.
I normally give up on political memoirs within the first hundred pages but I really liked this one. Hillary is so real and relatable in this read, despite how vastly different our lives are. She publicly processes her presidential election loss in this book, taking accountability for her mistakes, as well as sharing the outside forces that made a win so difficult. I wish I had been more aware and involved in politics when she was running in 2016. I don’t agree with her on everything, but she doesn’t demand total agreement. This book aims to educate while coming from a place of humility (stark contrast to a certain someone) and is such a good read going into the 2024 election no matter what your political opinions are.
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
It took me a long time to finish this book, but not because it wasn’t well-written. Re-living the 2016 Election was excruciating. In the end, though, I’m so glad I did. Hillary Clinton is a wonderful writer, and shared insight that I’ll remember for a long time to come. Some chapters were harder than others, but I finished feeling inspired to build the path that I want in life and to keep going.
Many of us remember the events of November 8, 2016 as some sort of nightmare, but few felt it more than Hillary Clinton. The 2016 federal election campaign in the United States was one of the most insane circuses the world had ever seen, with a reality show carnival barker running for the seat of the Republican party, and the Democratic party dividing themselves into the Hillary and Bernie camps, with many Bernie supporters ending up being more damaging to the Democratic campaign than the Trump supporters. I am a Canadian, but we followed the election with great interest, since the leader of the free world affects us and every other country on the planet. I followed the Democratic campaign and watched American friends fighting tooth and nail over Bernie vs. Hillary on FB. When Hillary won, I saw many of the Bernie Bros saying they'd vote for Trump (before many of those people came to their senses). I saw Trump supporters posting loathsome things about women as presidents and Hillary in particular and spreading lies about her being a murderer and a pedophile. I watched as Hillary strode into the debates, confident, intelligent, and armed with actual information, rather than just storming into the room and barking insults at everyone, the way Donald Trump did. Around the world, it seemed pretty clear: there was NO WAY the Americans would vote for that clown. He was a buffoon, he was racist, he was misogynist. He talked about grabbing women by the pussy and said he could do it because he was powerful. He called Mexicans "rapists" and ran a campaign on zero evidence. He denied climate change, he denied science, and he made the Republican party look like it was a bunch of Bible-thumping idiots who still lived as if it were Galileo's era. As the election day grew closer, her numbers in the polls were so much higher than his it seemed like it would be a formality to actually hold the election: she already had it in her pocket. I listened to her talk about abortion and women's rights and was buoyed up in the joy of hearing a woman actually talk about my body, instead of powerful men deciding what should happen to it. And then... James Comey decided, 11 days before the election, to throw a wrench in everything and say those damn emails might actually contain something damaging. Those damn emails dogged her entire campaign, even though she was one of ALL Secretaries of State to use personal email to conduct business, and even though the State Department had said it was fine. And suddenly, that pussy-grabbing white supremacist became president. Even though Comey had already issued an "oh, my bad, we found nothing in the emails" letter that didn't even begin to erase the damage he'd already caused.
Was it because of the emails? Was it because she was a woman? Was it because she was a Clinton?
When this book was announced, I immediately ordered a copy of it to have the day it came out. Admittedly, I wanted to read the gossipy inside story. But Clinton isn't gossipy -- she simply outlines the entire campaign as it happened (not in order; it's ordered more thematically than that) and giving us insight into how it felt being on the inside, having to debate a moron and still watch the country vote him in. What it was like being within a system that was always aimed against her. What it was like watching the New York Times and Washington Post constantly run front-page headlines about her emails, and relegating his daily scandals to the second page (those same two outlets have sold hundred of thousands of newspapers since the election on the whole "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!" rhetoric, despite the fact that they were very much responsible in large part for his election).
Clinton is an excellent writer, and she takes the blame for certain things, like saying the comment about the coal miners that was entirely taken out of context. Within the context, she was saying that if industry was going to move forward they needed to find jobs for people in obsolete professions. But she was forgetting that the Republicans pride themselves on sound bytes taken out of context to prove their points and don't care about the actual truth. She was screwed the moment she said those words.
She also doesn't hold back on what she thinks of Trump and how dangerous he is to the country, which is interesting given how careful she's been in the past (though part of the reason she didn't win, she thinks now, is because her campaign often refused to lower itself to insulting a guy who could so easily be taken down, and now she wonders if she just should have called a spade a spade). She talks about what it was like trying to convince people who lived in an alternate reality (one in which a pizza parlour in Washington with no actual basement contained a basement pedophilia operation run by the Clintons... something even some right-wing family members of mine came to believe) that what they were reading were blatant lies cooked up by Russians. She talks about how frustrating it is that the American people KNOW they were bamboozled by the Russians and fed lies, and they just shrug and don't care.
I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 for two reasons: one, I believe the book could have waited another year or two when she could have had a more retrospective look at everything. She rails about Steve Bannon in the book and he's already out of the administration. Maybe the Russian involvement in the election process would be clearer in a couple of years, who knows. Secondly, I felt like a couple of chapters devolved into campaigning, and I'd already watched it closely and knew where she stood. I get why she did it: so much of her campaign and the media coverage of it was caught up in Those Damn Emails (actual title of one of her chapters) that her message was lost on many people and she feels like she needed to reiterate it. But I didn't want her to campaign at me, I just wanted her to talk about her experience. This is a really great read: not for Republicans, of course (they'd only read it to find fault and would only quote her sentences out of context) but for those people who supported her and wondered how it all went to hell last November.
Was it because of the emails? Was it because she was a woman? Was it because she was a Clinton?
When this book was announced, I immediately ordered a copy of it to have the day it came out. Admittedly, I wanted to read the gossipy inside story. But Clinton isn't gossipy -- she simply outlines the entire campaign as it happened (not in order; it's ordered more thematically than that) and giving us insight into how it felt being on the inside, having to debate a moron and still watch the country vote him in. What it was like being within a system that was always aimed against her. What it was like watching the New York Times and Washington Post constantly run front-page headlines about her emails, and relegating his daily scandals to the second page (those same two outlets have sold hundred of thousands of newspapers since the election on the whole "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!" rhetoric, despite the fact that they were very much responsible in large part for his election).
Clinton is an excellent writer, and she takes the blame for certain things, like saying the comment about the coal miners that was entirely taken out of context. Within the context, she was saying that if industry was going to move forward they needed to find jobs for people in obsolete professions. But she was forgetting that the Republicans pride themselves on sound bytes taken out of context to prove their points and don't care about the actual truth. She was screwed the moment she said those words.
She also doesn't hold back on what she thinks of Trump and how dangerous he is to the country, which is interesting given how careful she's been in the past (though part of the reason she didn't win, she thinks now, is because her campaign often refused to lower itself to insulting a guy who could so easily be taken down, and now she wonders if she just should have called a spade a spade). She talks about what it was like trying to convince people who lived in an alternate reality (one in which a pizza parlour in Washington with no actual basement contained a basement pedophilia operation run by the Clintons... something even some right-wing family members of mine came to believe) that what they were reading were blatant lies cooked up by Russians. She talks about how frustrating it is that the American people KNOW they were bamboozled by the Russians and fed lies, and they just shrug and don't care.
I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 for two reasons: one, I believe the book could have waited another year or two when she could have had a more retrospective look at everything. She rails about Steve Bannon in the book and he's already out of the administration. Maybe the Russian involvement in the election process would be clearer in a couple of years, who knows. Secondly, I felt like a couple of chapters devolved into campaigning, and I'd already watched it closely and knew where she stood. I get why she did it: so much of her campaign and the media coverage of it was caught up in Those Damn Emails (actual title of one of her chapters) that her message was lost on many people and she feels like she needed to reiterate it. But I didn't want her to campaign at me, I just wanted her to talk about her experience. This is a really great read: not for Republicans, of course (they'd only read it to find fault and would only quote her sentences out of context) but for those people who supported her and wondered how it all went to hell last November.
If you can, listen to this as an audio book, which is read by Hillary Clinton herself. Two years into the Trump administration nightmare, her loss in the election is even harder to fathom. However, it was somehow comforting to hear her perspective on "what happened."