Rating: 
Summary: Seignorial Privilege
Review: I looked forward to reading about the early life of Bill Clinton and his early marriage and the Arkansas days, etc, and this book has a lot on that--quite substantial. So I was a little shocked to arrive at page 440, where Morris refers to "Clinton's extra-marital relations with literally hundreds of women" Hundreds? That would be a minimum of 200. That's really quite a lot. I had always assumed a dozen or two.I began to wonder how that would work. Is a governorship such an easy job (just a lot of paper signing and speechifying) that an accomplished shmoozer can fit it in between hundreds of trysts? Whatever you think of his politics, it must be admitted that it's quite an accomplishment, especially considering he wasn't really all that interested in the governorship or the trysts, but rather the presidency. And what of the "Partner in Power"? Could she see early on that her husband was a politician of such consumate skill that he was a shoe-in for the presidency, and so chose to overlook his turning Arkansas into his personal harem? And what of Hilary's other partner in power, Vince Foster, now dead? If Morris touches on their "semi-private kisses and furtive squeezes", an "intimate professional bond between two attorneys", then surely he ought to dig a bit deeper on the cause of Foster's death. No sign of depression prior to the suicide. No death threats. What on earth happened to Vince Foster. All these deeply intriguing topics--Bill's monumental multi-tasking, Hillary's apparent acquiescence, Foster's mysterious death--are touched on but lightly. What really interests Morris is financial scandal, into which category he places, seemingly, any transaction over $10,000. The book is larded with endless, and I mean Endless, details of money for campaigns, money made in teal estate, many made in banking, in retail, in government, in law, in public and in private--all with the implication or explicit assertion that a crime was committed. And Morris doesn't stop with the Clintons. The Republicans and Reagan in particular come under his moral lash for using too much money to get elected or to celebrate having been elected. Literally hundreds of pages are devoted to venting his indignation at the expenditure of money in politics, almost as though he believes that the only ones fit to govern are indigent altar boys or investigative reporters. This reader would have liked less of the sort or quasi-incrimminatory fodder that fills the pages of the Village Voice and more probing into the feudatory state of Arkansas, perhaps interviewing some of the hundreds of women. There's a gripping story there, a noir classic, but I doubt it will be revealed by poring over old account ledgers.
Rating: 
Summary: A non conservative writes of the corruption of the Clintons
Review: I read this book in 1996 not long after it was published. Still impressed upon my mind is the revealing life theme of a couple consumed by the lust of power and greed, with Bill Clinton in particular consumed with the lust of sex. These lusts lead them ever further into corruption and the abuse of power. A second major impression left upon my mind is that the writer himself is not a conservative political partisan; that, unlike the Democratic party as a whole, he is not willing to cover up or excuse the damage the Clintons have done.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of facts to present the Clintons as people.
Review: I read this book several months ago, and the details of it have largely left my head, but overall I found it worth the read. There is a *lot* of detail here, much of it interesting, some of it not, but you come away with a definite picture of the Clintons as *people*, which is what I want from a biography. What I found most interesting was the early history of the two (as college students and before). I mean, everyone knows every politician is a slimy weasel, but what's fascinating is how they get that way. :) Of course, the book is also great for providing the kind of secret-government-paranoia and slick-willy-hoodwink facts that can really enliven cocktail party conversation. Give it a shot.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of facts to present the Clintons as people.
Review: I read this book several months ago, and the details of it have largely left my head, but overall I found it worth the read. There is a *lot* of detail here, much of it interesting, some of it not, but you come away with a definite picture of the Clintons as *people*, which is what I want from a biography. What I found most interesting was the early history of the two (as college students and before). I mean, everyone knows every politician is a slimy weasel, but what's fascinating is how they get that way. :) Of course, the book is also great for providing the kind of secret-government-paranoia and slick-willy-hoodwink facts that can really enliven cocktail party conversation. Give it a shot.
Rating:
Summary: We wanted to better understand the Clintons :{
Review: My wife and I read books to each other and "Partners in Power" gave us reason to continue. At first Mr. Morris painted the President's boyhood as one full of poverty, abuse and instability yet his drive to gain power began early in his life. We enjoyed stopping and discussing potential reasons for his behavior as governor and president. We found his boyhood stifled and bland until he became entwined in draft evasion. The decline of his values continue as the book outlines his climb to the presidency. We know of Dan Lasater here in Northern New Mexico. We heard his low-flying cargo plane, and pass his airport that our state government helped him build. Critically, I did not get a good understanding of the President and Mrs. Clinton as PEOPLE. The book didn't do this for me. I do, however, recognize his disarming style of "telling stories"
Rating: 
Summary: Morris strains to make his critique systemic in nature
Review: Roger Morris has obviously done a ton of investigative work to complete this book. He threatens to be terribly profound when he hints at a systemic crisis well beyond the misdeeds of the Clintons, but he never really gets beyond his obession with making a point about the Clinton's 'lack of character' and the compromises they commit on their way to the summit of American politics. There has been so much trash talk aimed at the Clinton's for fairly tranparent partisan reasons this book just seems to be another in a litany of attacks. So the Clinton's compromised basic values in their drive for power. I don't really see much insight in that. I hate to sound like a Clinton apologist, because I can see the guy for what he is, but this book would have been for more effective if Morris went into more detail on the swamp that is American politics, campaign finance, influence buying generally and the whole compromised morass of those who achieve real power in American life. Perhaps Morris would write a follow up book on that subject ranging well beyond the infirmities of the Clinton's, drawing parallels between the culture of our nations capitol and the unseemly machinations of power in our supposedly pristine state capitols.
Rating:
Summary: Morris strains to make his critique systemic in nature
Review: Roger Morris has obviously done a ton of investigative work to complete this book. He threatens to be terribly profound when he hints at a systemic crisis well beyond the misdeeds of the Clintons, but he never really gets beyond his obession with making a point about the Clinton's 'lack of character' and the compromises they commit on their way to the summit of American politics. There has been so much trash talk aimed at the Clinton's for fairly tranparent partisan reasons this book just seems to be another in a litany of attacks. So the Clinton's compromised basic values in their drive for power. I don't really see much insight in that. I hate to sound like a Clinton apologist, because I can see the guy for what he is, but this book would have been for more effective if Morris went into more detail on the swamp that is American politics, campaign finance, influence buying generally and the whole compromised morass of those who achieve real power in American life. Perhaps Morris would write a follow up book on that subject ranging well beyond the infirmities of the Clinton's, drawing parallels between the culture of our nations capitol and the unseemly machinations of power in our supposedly pristine state capitols.
Rating: 
Summary: Roger Morris' Fiasco
Review: The title and pictorial representation leads one to believe that the book would share some light on the past and present exploits of the Clinton's political arranegements. However the book is in fact a catalog of ramblings about unsubstantiated charges of corruption at all levels of government. Additionally an inordinate portion of the text is dedicated to the struggles the Clintons went through in their early lives. It also goes off on tangents that only remotely relate to the Clinton's felonious life style. To the interested student of power brokers this book is replete with redundancies that leads to a boring and sophomoric exercise.
Rating:
Summary: Roger Morris' Fiasco
Review: The title and pictorial representation leads one to believe that the book would share some light on the past and present exploits of the Clinton's political arranegements. However the book is in fact a catalog of ramblings about unsubstantiated charges of corruption at all levels of government. Additionally an inordinate portion of the text is dedicated to the struggles the Clintons went through in their early lives. It also goes off on tangents that only remotely relate to the Clinton's felonious life style. To the interested student of power brokers this book is replete with redundancies that leads to a boring and sophomoric exercise.
Rating:
Summary: The reality of the Bill Clinton
Review: This book detailes the corruption of not only the Clintons but Arkansas and Washington D.C. as well. The book paints a picture of the idealistic and somewhat tortured personal lives of two people who get caught up in the corruption of not only Arkansas, but Washington D.C. The book does get kind of bogged down in discussing tangents to the main theme of the book, the Clintons, but its meant to show what kind of Arkansas and Washington D.C. they came into politically. The book, although defintely not pro-Clintons, avoids purely polemical and emotional language and writing. It is a sad commentary on politics in general and our country when corrupt people can get into high places.
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