Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by jessmilner26
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
5.0
"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger - Neitzsche and Kelly Clarkson."
I'm not an American, but I do vividly remember that Trump had won the election in 2016. It came as something as a double blow - My sister woke me up, her head round my door, and shook her head. Around this same time, Brexit was also confirmed by a small margin. It seemed a time of helplessness, comfusion and anger. We could see through both political spheres that there had been a shift in both countries, creeping in almost unseen, towards the right wing. In some ways the American political landscape is familiar to us, we even show it in our pubs and bars well into the night, experiencing the fear and hope for another country so close to our own along side them. I don't know if the same is true for Americans in terms of what happens in Britain, though it would be nice to think it was, for a sense of fellowship. What I'm trying to say is that we can be deeply affected by global movements we have no say in and no vote in, because we have our own comparisons, and we can feel what it means in terms of political divisions.
So how do you begin to move on? Well, lots of things, but here is a little list from the beginning chapters of this book:
Watching boxsets, especially my favourite good wife. Hanging votes for women banners. Thousands of lucky paper cranes. Flowers from children. Maya Angelou and her unbreakable, luminous spirit. The women's marches, a hug from a stranger. Family time. Prayer. So many small things that can act as a healing balm in the face of something truly traumatic. I say traumatic not just in terms of a single persons defeat, and another electoral defeat of a strong woman (though not a permanent one, of course.) But the added trauma of knowing the hurt that will be caused to your home, to its people, your people, from Donald Trump. It is not an exaggeration to say that people in America have died because of the Trump administration. How can one person move on with that knowledge and learn to find solace? In all those things listed, but in examining how that was able to happen. Being honest and digging into the depths to which misogyny, lies and outside foreign influences can affect a country, and being honest about how to find hope to carry on. Hillary Clinton examines this with honesty and dignity. She has humility, refreshing when looking at the things Trump has done since his election. Even having something of a limited knowledge of Americas inner workings (though I have seen every episode of the west wing - I'm assuming that doesn't really count.) I didn't feel confused, or overwhelmed with the narrative and knowledge being imparted. Done in a careful way, slowly (but not tediously) taking us through agreeing to run for election to her eventual defeat, Hillary Clinton shows us there are still people willing to fight on the right side of history.
It's strange to be reading this book during the Covid-19 pandemic. My own government is failing. America is failing worse. It's frightening. One can't help but wonder what would have happened if Hillary had been in charge during this time. I'm sure she's thinking about that. She says at the beginning of this book about being elected: "I couldn't get the job done." From this book you can tell she felt that deeply. I don't think it's fair. It's natural to wonder what could have happened, and to ask what did. But I don't think it's fair to shoulder everything that didn't, and to lay it solely at the door of one woman. All we can do is go back, reexamine, ask the questions. I'm writing this review as states across the US are going through mass protests for the black lives matter movement, in the wake of the murder by police of Minneapolis man, George Floyd. The chapters in which Hillary meets and talks with BLM activists and the mothers of murdered black people are especially moving.
Some of the chapters about the emails, supposed election fraud and Russias influence might at times have felt kind of long, but I understand their importance. It sounds wrong to say they were 'interesting' because of the injustice of it all, but they were.
I don't know if this review makes sense. I'm just trying to get my thoughts out. This book made me think, and this review is the rambling evidence of this. I appreciate the work and the fight that went into it. The bit that made me cry was the speech given when Hillary announced that she would be running for president, and thinking about how all those hopeful women and girls were disappointed in her eventual defeat. But as she says, one of them will one day become the president. Not by virtue of being a woman, as Hillary points out, but because she's the best person to be president. (As someone who's countries only female prime minister was Margaret bloody Thatcher, I appreciate the distinction) and when that happens, it will be because of Hillary Rodham Clinton and by reading this book, and knowing what to do and what not to do, and how to keep going.
I'm not an American, but I do vividly remember that Trump had won the election in 2016. It came as something as a double blow - My sister woke me up, her head round my door, and shook her head. Around this same time, Brexit was also confirmed by a small margin. It seemed a time of helplessness, comfusion and anger. We could see through both political spheres that there had been a shift in both countries, creeping in almost unseen, towards the right wing. In some ways the American political landscape is familiar to us, we even show it in our pubs and bars well into the night, experiencing the fear and hope for another country so close to our own along side them. I don't know if the same is true for Americans in terms of what happens in Britain, though it would be nice to think it was, for a sense of fellowship. What I'm trying to say is that we can be deeply affected by global movements we have no say in and no vote in, because we have our own comparisons, and we can feel what it means in terms of political divisions.
So how do you begin to move on? Well, lots of things, but here is a little list from the beginning chapters of this book:
Watching boxsets, especially my favourite good wife. Hanging votes for women banners. Thousands of lucky paper cranes. Flowers from children. Maya Angelou and her unbreakable, luminous spirit. The women's marches, a hug from a stranger. Family time. Prayer. So many small things that can act as a healing balm in the face of something truly traumatic. I say traumatic not just in terms of a single persons defeat, and another electoral defeat of a strong woman (though not a permanent one, of course.) But the added trauma of knowing the hurt that will be caused to your home, to its people, your people, from Donald Trump. It is not an exaggeration to say that people in America have died because of the Trump administration. How can one person move on with that knowledge and learn to find solace? In all those things listed, but in examining how that was able to happen. Being honest and digging into the depths to which misogyny, lies and outside foreign influences can affect a country, and being honest about how to find hope to carry on. Hillary Clinton examines this with honesty and dignity. She has humility, refreshing when looking at the things Trump has done since his election. Even having something of a limited knowledge of Americas inner workings (though I have seen every episode of the west wing - I'm assuming that doesn't really count.) I didn't feel confused, or overwhelmed with the narrative and knowledge being imparted. Done in a careful way, slowly (but not tediously) taking us through agreeing to run for election to her eventual defeat, Hillary Clinton shows us there are still people willing to fight on the right side of history.
It's strange to be reading this book during the Covid-19 pandemic. My own government is failing. America is failing worse. It's frightening. One can't help but wonder what would have happened if Hillary had been in charge during this time. I'm sure she's thinking about that. She says at the beginning of this book about being elected: "I couldn't get the job done." From this book you can tell she felt that deeply. I don't think it's fair. It's natural to wonder what could have happened, and to ask what did. But I don't think it's fair to shoulder everything that didn't, and to lay it solely at the door of one woman. All we can do is go back, reexamine, ask the questions. I'm writing this review as states across the US are going through mass protests for the black lives matter movement, in the wake of the murder by police of Minneapolis man, George Floyd. The chapters in which Hillary meets and talks with BLM activists and the mothers of murdered black people are especially moving.
Some of the chapters about the emails, supposed election fraud and Russias influence might at times have felt kind of long, but I understand their importance. It sounds wrong to say they were 'interesting' because of the injustice of it all, but they were.
I don't know if this review makes sense. I'm just trying to get my thoughts out. This book made me think, and this review is the rambling evidence of this. I appreciate the work and the fight that went into it. The bit that made me cry was the speech given when Hillary announced that she would be running for president, and thinking about how all those hopeful women and girls were disappointed in her eventual defeat. But as she says, one of them will one day become the president. Not by virtue of being a woman, as Hillary points out, but because she's the best person to be president. (As someone who's countries only female prime minister was Margaret bloody Thatcher, I appreciate the distinction) and when that happens, it will be because of Hillary Rodham Clinton and by reading this book, and knowing what to do and what not to do, and how to keep going.