Rating: 
Summary: The truth, if you are a serious student of history
Review: Seeing the previous review's of the Clinton War's, I note that the scale is for the majority either one star or five stars, with no margin either way. This surely reflects the intense polarization of our Nation. And make no mistake; this book may set your blood to boil, depending on your politics. But like it or hate it, it can not be about content and writing style, both of which are excellent.Yes it is 800 pages long. But serious scholarly works of history can not be reduced to sound bites. If you are only interested in selective areas to prove your pet theories, stick to books like "Stupid White Men" or "Slander: Liberal Lies about the American Right", very colorful, very short, and written by individuals with no credentials or degrees, only an agenda. And that is the bottom line. As a political science student and a free thinker, I may not agree with all of Mr. Blumenthal's interpretations of key events during the 1990's, but I will not dispute his overall theme, it was a war between opposing political forces, and if the author color's his history with a bias toward his friend Bill Clinton, at least he gets the facts right. This book is a detailed and at times painful reflection of politics run amuck, flagrant violations of the Grand Jury and the rules of evidence, and of the of a compliant press which took all the rules of journalistic integrity, verification, two source rule, the publishing of exculpatory evidence, and buried it in a hole in the ground. In all the negative reviews from the New York Times to the Washington Post, people who have trashed this book, unable to find any errors, inaccuracies or false statements, have resorted to personal attacks on the author. For those of us who still try to think for ourselves, after reading Mr. Blumenthal's book, we may finally get the answers to the question's that I have been asking for the last five years: What exactly was President Clinton guilty of? What crimes did he commit? And why did the OIC spend over 7 years and 70 million dollars of my tax money and fail to get a single major conviction?
Rating: 
Summary: I'm confused
Review: For some stupid reason I thought Clinton was an untrustworthy demagogue. So, needless to say, I was somewhat confused when reading The Clinton Wars. I like how Blumenthal mentioned how victorious Clinton was in all of his war efforts including Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, and Bosnia. Being a big war buff, I know, now that I read this, that Clinton never dodged the draft. I also learned that Clinton never lied about anything. Wow! I'm glad I read this cause I guess I had all of my facts wrong or something. After reading this, I learned how Clinton was the clairvoyant President who ushered in unprecedented growth in his impeccable tenure. Thanks to Sid Blumenthal, I now know that all of the negativity I was hearing about infidelity, perjuring to a federal grand jury, selling pardons, stealing the White House china, selling nuclear secrets to China, appeasing North Korea, and turning down Osama bin Laden were all nothing more than spurious fallacies lodged from the vicious right wing conspiracy. Kudos for setting me straight, Sid.
Rating:
Summary: Why Bother...
Review: Blumenthal -- like most political operatives with a book deal -- has churned out an indifferently written and profoundly humourless blend of hagiography, self-justification and character assassination. (Newsflash: Sid and Hitch are not going to kiss and make up any time this century.) And like the work of most political operatives with a book deal, this will have limited appeal to anyone isn't already in the choir or researching a term paper. Three stars for partisan Democrats and those who waste their Sunday mornings watching cable talking heads. Everyone else might want to give this tome a miss.
Rating: 
Summary: Right Wing Conspiracy? Yes, I'll Take one.
Review: Before I purchased this book, I wondered what Sidney Blumenthal would have to say for 800 pages. So, I read, and read, and read, and read, and on, and on, and on, .......If he'd wanted to be in the least bit credible, there'd been maybe one chink in President Clinton's armor. But, no. It's all the "right wing conspiracy." In spite of the fact that Blumenthal's former employer, the fact-creating, slanderer-hiring rag New York Times is inherently liberal. Paula Jones didn't happen, Monica didn't happen, impeachment didn't happen. It was all Ken Starr's fault....for 800 pages. C'mon Sid. For those who are blindly loyal to the Clinton regime, you'll probably dig it. For those who have an objective, need-to-know bone in your body, don't bother. Clinton was voted in a CSPAN poll recently to be the most immoral president in our country's history. Not according to Sid. It was entirely the work of the Republican right and collusion. This is a cheerleading effort from front to back. "Don't confuse us with the facts." And don't waste your hard-earned money. This book reeks of political pay-off and future employment hope on the part of Blumenthal. I expected much more from a "professional journalist." Blumenthal has waived that right.
Rating: 
Summary: Its High Time
Review: I wish this book had been printed earlier. Its a fascinating account of hound-like Washington society, where politicians and the press are equally culpable. On the whole, I loved the methodical manner in which Blumenthal has indicted the right. His accounts are very believable. However, I wish Mr. Blumenthal had provided more insight into Bill Clinton, the person and intellectual. Controversial, but Well done.
Rating:
Summary: Patronizing crap
Review: Since Sid was an insider, any reader expecting an objective account of Slick Willie's tenure will be sorely dissapointed. Despite the meaty heft of the tome, Sid flails about weakly attempting to castigate Clinton opponents (and often on hearsay)but failing to explain the processes going on at the time that resulted in: a) the biggest economic bubble and corporate pilaging of the 20th century (sorry kiddies, you can't blame Bush for that one); and worse b) allowing al-Queda to stage smaller terror attacks relatively unpunished that led directly to 9-11. I could care less about Ken Starr and the McDougals, as they don't matter compared to what happened in NYC that very ugly day, and his boy Clinton had a major hand in allowing it to occur.
Rating:
Summary: War's Hell
Review: Politic's does indeed make for strange bedfellows. With the recent onslaught of books coming from the not-so radical Right ( where they never met a Liberal they didn't abhor! ) it is truly a pleasure to walk into my local bookseller and see Sidney Blumenthal's book " The Clinton Wars. " At last a work of non-fiction that didn't require that I take a long, hot shower after perusing it's pages and one where I gratefully was not subjected to some more of the typical Clinton bashing and finger-waging of our favorite seething Conservatives who apparently continue to work out some very serious issues regarding our former ( and still extremely popular! ) President. Mr. Blumenthal enjoyed unlimited access to President Clinton during his second tenure and much of what happened during that, at times, scandalous and hectic period of our country's history. Blumenthal does touch upon the Lewinsky scandal, Whitewater, Kenneth Starr and the failed Republican led impeachment process. At times though there truly is simply far too much tedious information to be found within but that is a small gripe overall. Coming in at 800 pages the reader is diluged with a wealth of info that probably isn't necessary but I suspect anything less and the Clinton naysayers would be accusing Blumenthal of not being completely upfront regarding these turbulent years. It is apparent that Mr. Blumenthal does have an axe to grind with sleazy, journalistic bottom-feeder Matt Drudge, who falsely accused him of wife-beating, but I can hardly fault Sidney for wishing to set the story straight on that not-so-small issue and clear his good name. Make no mistake, Mr. Blumenthal was by all accounts an extremely difficult man to work with and obviously he wielded a powerful stick while attending to his duties for President and Mrs. Clinton but, I greatly suspect, being constantly barraged with duties that most of us would find far too over-whelming it is no small wonder as to why he, at times, comes across as slightly contemptible to many of those who he feels would do harm to the man who occupied the Oval Office. Friends and enemies alike ( and there are many on both sides! ) freely admit as to Sydney Blumenthal being more then capable regarding his duites in the White House. Quite a complement seeing how divisive are the occupants who run the White House as of this critique. Overall, the " Clinton Wars " reads like the excellent account of the Washington insider that it promises to be. Whether you're a fan of President Clinton or not ( and if not then you probably haven't read this far anyway! ) this is most definitley worth your time and effort.
Rating:
Summary: An insider's view
Review: This book is an insider's view of Clinton's second term. To be sure it contains the bias's associated with that view. I have yet to see too many "objective" views about someone writing on their own experiences. However, the author provides a factual insight into the impeachment and the problems that faced the Clinton White House. Ironically the criticisms of his work tend to enforce what the author says. The pack mentality and the press's bad reporting have been documented by Conason, Lyons, and Toobin.
What the author never fully addresses is why the press corps was so easily manipulated by the right and the public seemed so constant in its support of Clinton. Hopefully somebody someday will address that question.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeze
Review: Right wing - left wing - who cares? The point is Dear Sidney couldn't tell fact from fiction. He's all too hasty to elevate his boss to the point where your jaw simply drops and you go: "say what?" This has nothing to do with partisanship, but simply facts. I guess I'm not ready to worship at the Clinton altar unreservedly. Sidney is. And he can do it without those pesky little facts. For me, I'm a little more discerning. I need a couple facts to help me out. Sidney is scant on those. Give this one a big pass. It doesn't satisfy anyone even with the most modest curiosity of the behind-the-scenes peek at the Clinton Whitehouse. I was hoping for a story without hype and hoop-la. But hype, hoop-la and hero worship is all I got, here. It was pretty boring because it became so predictable.
Rating:
Summary: Clinton wars
Review: Sidney Blumenthal, a.k.a. Sid Vicious to those who worked with him continues in the grand demoncrat party tradition of pursuing a desired end by any means necessary, including distortion of reality. If you are a believer in leftist religious theology, this is your book. Paula Jones, Anita Broderick, etc. etc. never happened, or if they did, what does it matter? Nuclear development in Korea, missle launches into aspirin factories, failure to bother to detain Bin Laden, head jobs from interns while talking to members of congress; gosh, no substantive mention. Buy this book, read it, then subscribe to the flat earth society. You'll fit right in.
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