From veteran Washington Post journalist and First Lady-watcher Radcliffe: a fulsome biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton that's long on quotes from F.O.H.'s and F.O.B.'s and short on any from those who might be a tad more objective. In less than sparkling prose, Radcliffe tells the story of a woman who's far too exceptional in her accomplishments to be trotted out for public consumption as just another working woman of the 90's trying to juggle family, career, and other commitments. Raised in a Chicago suburb, the future First Lady had parents who not only encouraged her to excel at academics and athletics but made no distinction between her and her two brothers. With this priceless advantage, she went on to achieve great things, not only in her education but in all the subsequent positions she's held. Radcliffe describes tales of how Hillary Rodham, a Goldwater supporter, changed during the turbulent late 60's at Wellesley to become a McGovern campaign-worker and a liberal Democrat. The author suggests, however, that Mrs. Clinton's liberalism is tempered by her Methodist up-bringing and religious readings: Her sense of human frailty has led her to reject ``sentimental liberalism'' and to adopt a more pragmatic response in working for justice and reform. ``I wonder if it's possible to be a mental conservative and a heart liberal?'' the First Lady once wrote. Her meeting with Bill Clinton at Yale; her decision to move to Arkansas (``My friends and family thought I had lost my mind. I was a little bit concerned about that as well''); her marriage; the campaign and the first hundred days of the presidency are also chronicled here. More a postcampaign bio than a probing assessment of a woman who doesn't need the White House to validate her. Still, a readable primer to fill in until the big book—and there must be one—comes along. (First printing of 75,000)
Pub Date: Sept. 20, 1993
ISBN: 0-446-51766-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1993
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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