Rating: 
Summary: I read this book during the Clinton years...
Review: And was so disgusted at the time, that I threw it out my door to be picked up on trash day. However, with all the overblown, sensational media advertising going on over the new Clinton book, my scientist's instinct has been revived and feel the other side must be considered too. I remember the odd details of Vince Foster's death. The story indeed smells funny... I remembered that the book was well-written and researched; I think what revolted me was that it seemed that Stewart was hell-bent on proving Clinton the bad guy, and thinking to myself, who knows what really goes on in D.C.? Perhaps, it was a Republican plot of some kind?Clinton was the first president I voted for in 1992, consider myself a Democrat, so my comments may seem uncharacteristic. Where unsolved murders (though Foster's was supposedly suicidal) go, I'm unusually sensitive, since an aunt of mine was murdered, and the murder is still unsolved, 30 years later. I was going to a christian school at the time, in the fourth grade, being forced to read the books of Moses etc. My aunt was a christian...anyway, her death has always somehow affected me with a deep desire for justice, particularly when innocent blood is shed. I really didn't know how to rate this book because the evidence is particularly damaging, could easily be misconstrued.
Rating:
Summary: I read this book during the Clinton years...
Review: And was so disgusted at the time, that I threw it out my door to be picked up on trash day. However, with all the overblown, sensational media advertising going on over the new Clinton book, my scientist's instinct has been revived and feel the other side must be considered too. I remember the odd details of Vince Foster's death. The story indeed smells funny... I remembered that the book was well-written and researched; I think what revolted me was that it seemed that Stewart was hell-bent on proving Clinton the bad guy, and thinking to myself, who knows what really goes on in D.C.? Perhaps, it was a Republican plot of some kind? Clinton was the first president I voted for in 1992, consider myself a Democrat, so my comments may seem uncharacteristic. Where unsolved murders (though Foster's was supposedly suicidal) go, I'm unusually sensitive, since an aunt of mine was murdered, and the murder is still unsolved, 30 years later. I was going to a christian school at the time, in the fourth grade, being forced to read the books of Moses etc. My aunt was a christian...anyway, her death has always somehow affected me with a deep desire for justice, particularly when innocent blood is shed. I really didn't know how to rate this book because the evidence is particularly damaging, could easily be misconstrued.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written, factual, eye opening
Review: BLOOD SPORT is an extremely well written book that turns a compicated subject and series of events into an easily understandable history. The book is clearly non-biased and points to the real reasons for the Clinton Scandals
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Look at Politics as a Blood Sport
Review: For those of you who thought the people on Survivor II were a nasty lot, look back a few years to the presidency of Bill Clinton and the wicked group of enemies he managed to amass. James B. Stewart in Blood Sport, the President and his Adversaries, presents a wonderfully detailed look at the people and issues behind the trouble during Bill Clinton's presidency. It is now a little dated but still as important and relevant as the people may changed but politics remains the same. The author attacks in a very clear fashion the main problems bedeviling the Clintons, including often their own arrogance. This book names names and gives a perceptive look the people behind the scenes in politics who spend their time turning politics into the blood sport it has become, and probably always has been. An interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Look at Politics as a Blood Sport
Review: For those of you who thought the people on Survivor II were a nasty lot, look back a few years to the presidency of Bill Clinton and the wicked group of enemies he managed to amass. James B. Stewart in Blood Sport, the President and his Adversaries, presents a wonderfully detailed look at the people and issues behind the trouble during Bill Clinton's presidency. It is now a little dated but still as important and relevant as the people may changed but politics remains the same. The author attacks in a very clear fashion the main problems bedeviling the Clintons, including often their own arrogance. This book names names and gives a perceptive look the people behind the scenes in politics who spend their time turning politics into the blood sport it has become, and probably always has been. An interesting read.
Rating:
Summary: Stewart ends speculation with that rare commodity - facts!
Review: Given all the uncertainty, rumor and political positioning swirling around Clinton and the Arkansas contingent who went to Washington with him, Stewart's book cuts through the fog with well-researched and unbiased reporting. The book reads like a good page-turning novel.
Stewart writes about an oft-repeated morass when he covers Whitewater. It was a story that was repeated again and again as a result of the tax reform act of 1986, when all the real estate rules changed. Stewart solves the Vince Foster "murder mystery" too. It's all a classic story of embarrassment, leading to cover-up, leading to fraud and misrepresentation spawned by naivete and stupidity. Conspiracy? Phooey! Stewart deserves a medal for clarity
Rating:
Summary: Whitewater Explained--Finally
Review: If anyone is still interested in what the fuss was all about, they should read this. Blood Sport is written totally objectively and deals with all the players involved in every Clinton scandal except for Monica, which broke after publication. The book details the business partnerships the Clintons had with the McDougals from the 1970's on the 1990's and its fall out. The story stretches from Arkansas to the White House and even goes a bit into the suicide of Vince Foster. Stewart makes no judgments as to whether any impropriety occurred in any business dealings, so this is a good place to start for an objective reader who wants to make up his own mind about the whole sordid mess.
Rating:
Summary: Balanced, accessible and ultimately so sad
Review: James B. Stewart is a very rare writer, indeed -- especially in regards to the Clintons. He's a genuine reporter looking for the facts and he appears to have no agenda (meaning he's not the apologist Gail Sheehy is, nor is he the demonizer Anne Coulter is). He presents the failed land deal of Whitewater for what it was -- a bad and perhaps even improper investment that was made to look illegal by the stumbling, bumbling and arrogance of the Clintons. Ditto for Hillary's commodities trading. There are no high crimes here, and if the First Lady hadn't been so determined to protect her privacy it may have just evaporated. If only Bill and Hillary had listened to lawyer (and Watergate veteran) Nussbaum and made their records/returns available in the first place, taxpayers would have been spared millions of dollars in investigations and the President would have been better able to concentrate on health care, education, foreign policy and all the other issues he discussed in the campaign. And if a special prosecutor hadn't already been in place, it's possible none of us would even know the name "Monica Lewinsky." It almost made me ache for what might have been. Stewart makes the complicated accessible and breathes life into Little Rock and White House denizens. Jim MacDougall, Nussbaum and especially Vince Foster are more sympathetic, human and ultimately tragic than ever before. And I wonder how new This Week commentator George Stephanopolous feels about this book ... This book does not depict him in his finest hour.
Rating:
Summary: Stewart can tell a GREAT story... with the needed context.
Review: James B. Stewart is fabulous writer! I read this book only because I loved his Wall Street work on "Den of Thieves"... and he didn't let me down. This book will become one of the most valuable tools to historians decades down the road when they try to re-examine the 1990's presidency, and the events that led up to it. It's a middle of the road examination, in the form a riveting page turning, great story; all well documented & meticulously researched about the loosly managed events in Clinton's personal affairs that spun out of control when they intersected with his public life. I now understand WHY & HOW the events took place. The surprising context of the story is very eye opening. The book will put its readers in the 99 Percentile as far relative understanding to everyone else out there that continues to scratch their heads when they try to understand & explain Whitewater, Travelgate, Troopergate, Paula Jones, Vince Foster's suicide, Jim & Susan McDougal, Madison S&L, Hillary's $1,000 to $100,000 commodities trading success, the independent counsel switch to Ken Starr. The so called "conspiracy" to get Clinton is now in its proper context. James Stewart did a masterful job on this one! Read "Den of Thieves" after this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A Big Disappointment
Review: Jim Stewart made the talk-show circuit insinuating that he had uncovered massive incriminating evidence against the Clintons re: Whitewater. But, the book practically exonerates Bill and Hillary and portrays them as innocent, passive, albeit duped, investors. I felt betrayed by this Clinton cronie. He knowingly lied and deceived people by deliberately misrepresenting the book. I suppose he knew that the book would sell better if it was billed as an expose on Clinton, so he portrayed it and himself as just that.
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