New Books Network

The “Personal is Political” was the mantra for the women’s movement and a generation of social historians interested in the lives of women and assorted minorities. This lens, looking at the interior lives of individuals to decipher their exterior choices, has long been a staple of biographers. Bill Chafe, however, takes this maxim to a higher and more intensive level in his joint biography, Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012). The Duke University historian of women’s history and American liberalism brings these insights to bear on a masterful depiction of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s inner-lives and the public consequences thereof. Chafe’s work is readable and captivating. This work represents an inventive avenue to understand why politicians behave in ways that otherwise seem inconceivable. Seriously, if you want to understand the Clinton presidency go buy this book.


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