The Seduction of Hillary Rodham
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Seduction of Hillary Rodham'' is a 1996 book about the early years of
Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
written by once- conservative writer, later-
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
media watch dog and Clintons supporter David Brock. The book was written during the advent of Brock's political evolution, thus contains a mixed ideological viewpoint.


Background

After the commercial and received-ideological success of ''
The Real Anita Hill ''The Real Anita Hill'' is a controversial 1993 book written and now disavowed by David Brock in which the author claimed to reveal the "true motives" that he has revealed he fabricated of Anita Hill, who had accused Supreme Court Justice Claren ...
'', Brock's first book, The Free Press paid Brock a large advance to write a book about
Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
. That amount has been stated as $1 million by Brock in his 2002 memoir ''
Blinded by the Right ''Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative'' is a 2002 book written by former conservative journalist David Brock detailing his departure from the conservative movement. It is also the story of his coming out as a gay man. In ...
''. In that volume, Brock claimed that he was pushed into the book assignment by what his publisher and agent wanted, but in any case, the clear expectation was that it would be a takedown in the style of his writings on
Anita Hill Anita Faye Hill (born July 30, 1956) is an American lawyer, educator and author. She is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the university's Heller School for Social Policy and ...
and
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
. To fulfill this goal, Brock hired what he has termed a "small brigade of researchers" to assist him.


The turn

The project, however, took a different turn, and the resulting book, ''The Seduction of Hillary Rodham'', proved to be largely sympathetic to Hillary Clinton, causing surprise within the publishing industry. Having received the large advance and a tight one-year deadline from
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
's then-conservatively focused Free Press subsidiary, Brock was under tremendous pressure to produce another bestseller. However, the book contained no major scoops. In ''Blinded by the Right'', Brock said that he had reached a turning point; he had thoroughly examined charges against the Clintons, could not find any evidence of wrongdoing, and did not want to make any more misleading claims.


Content

The titles of the chapters of the book illustrate some of its themes: # Hillary for President # A Seminar for Radicals # Love and Squalor # Stranger in a Strange Land # Alinsky's Daughter # The Real Comeback Kid # Joan of Arkansas # Wifewater? # Partners for Life # Damage Control # Rodham Rides Again # Charge of the Light Brigade # The Revenge of the Ozarks The book was generally hostile towards Bill Clinton, including the inclusion of coverage about his new numerous supposed (at that time) affairs. As ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote, "Clearly the President is the seducer of the title -- Mr. Brock quotes a former White House aide, David Watkins, calling Bill Clinton ''the greatest seducer who ever lived'' -- and to the degree Hillary Clinton has been forced to compromise the high moral and ethical standards she brought both to their political partnership and their marriage, Mr. Brock blames Bill Clinton. Indeed, his characterization of the President is consistently scathing, at times approaching an ''ad hominem'' attack."


Critical reaction

When the book came out, it was widely criticized for not breaking any new ground. The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' called it " haustive to the point of exhaustion" and "predictably critical, but unexpectedly measured, at least in comparison to what Beltway gossips anticipated."
James B. Stewart James Bennett Stewart (born c. 1952) is an American lawyer, journalist, and author. Early life and education Stewart was born in Quincy, Illinois. He graduated from DePauw University and Harvard Law School. Career He is a member of the Bar o ...
for ''The New York Times'' said that Brock had "tried to do his subject justice in the broadest sense", but added that " times he goes too far," often "echo ngher apologists" and "dismiss ngor rationaliz ngthe sometimes powerful evidence that Hillary Rodham Clinton has lied...by invoking a relativism rooted in Republican precedents." ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' gave the book a 'D' (poor but not a complete failure) and said, "What could have actually been a rather poignant biography of a fascinating woman is marred by Brock's heavy reliance on previously published accounts, his leaden prose, the constant sense that he's proselytizing against Bill Clinton, and his naïveté about marriages in general and presidential ones in particular." Writing for the '' New York Review of Books'',
Garry Wills Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...
assayed that Brock's goal was to establish a premise of a President Clinton becoming into a state of being out of control with unrestrained power going into his second term in office. Brock said that his former friends in
right-wing politics Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, author ...
shunned him because ''Seduction'' did not adequately attack the Clintons. Jonah Goldberg of '' National Review'' proposed another theory: Since "no liberal source in the world would talk to Brock," he could not collect the kind of information he was after. Goldberg also maintained that while writing the book, Brock had been "seduced" by
Sidney Blumenthal Sidney Stone Blumenthal (born November 6, 1948) is an American journalist and political operative. A former aide to President Bill Clinton, he is a long-time confidant of Hillary Clinton and was formerly employed by the Clinton Foundation. As a ...
, a prominent champion and friend of the Clinton circle. Blumenthal would remain the subject of intense attention from anti-Clintonites two decades later.


Sales

Free Press had a first printing of 300,000 copies of the book, which per ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' represented three times the sales of Brock's commercially successful job on Anita Hill.David Streitfield, "First Lady Surprisingly Unscathed in New Book", The Washington Post, October 8, 1996. Instead, ''The Seduction of Hillary Rodham'' sold very poorly; the ''Post'' characterized it as "a disaster". To illustrate, the paper reported that a Washington bookstore had only sold eight out of 30 ordered copies and a Baltimore bookstore only three out of 50.David Streitfeld, The Washington Post, "President's Book Fizzled", December 6, 1996. Brock has said the book sold less than half of what the Anita Hill book had,Brock, ''Blinded by the Right'', 304. which given the ''Post estimate would mean ''Seduction'' sold less than 50,000 copies. Considering the large printing, large advance, and far-under-expectations sales, Brock has said that the book was in the fact of the matter a "commercial disaster".


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seduction of Hillary Rodham, The 1996 non-fiction books American political books Seduction of Hillary Rodham, The Books about Bill Clinton Books by David Brock Books about politics of the United States Free Press (publisher) books