The Best Books To Learn About President Bill Clinton
(You can view the rest of our presidential Best Book lists by going to our Best US President Books page, or for a more in-depth look at how we found and ranked the books you can visit our Best Book About Every United States President article.)
Bill Clinton Quick Facts |
| President Number | 42 |
| Terms In Office | 2 |
| Years | 1993-2001 |
| Political Party | Democratic |
| Vice President | Al Gore |
| Home State | Arkansas |
| Presidential Pet | Cat (Socks) & Labrador Retriever (Buddy) |
| Campaign Slogan | “For People, for a Change” & It’s Time to Change America” & “Putting People First” & “Building a bridge to the twenty-first century” |
| Articles Used in Ranking | 12 |
| Number of Unique Books | 28 |
The Best Book About Bill Clinton
(Appears on 6 Lists)
First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton by David Maraniss
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
- Mandi Lindner
- PBS
- Presidents USA
- The Tailored Man
- The Washington Post
Who exactly is Bill Clinton, and why was he, of all the brilliant and ambitious men in his generation, the first in his class to reach the White House? Drawing on hundreds of letters, documents, and interviews, David Maraniss explores the evolution of the personality of our forty-second president from his youth in Arkansas to his 1991 announcement that he would run for the nation’s highest office. In this richly textured and balanced biography, Maraniss reveals a complex man full of great flaws and great talents. First in His Class is the definitive book on Bill Clinton.
#2
(Appears on 4 Lists)
The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House by John F. Harris
Lists It Appears On:
- All The Presidents Books
- Mashable
- PBS
- The Washington Post
The Survivor is the best kind of history, a book filled with major revelations–the tense dynamic of the Clinton inner circle and Clinton’s professional symbiosis with Al Gore to the imprint of Clinton’s immense personality on domestic and foreign affairs–as well as the minor details that leaven all great political narratives. This long-awaited synthesis of the dominant themes, events, and personalities of the Clinton years will stand as the authoritative and lasting work on the Clinton Presidency.
#3-5
(Appear on 2 Lists)
A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President. by Jeffrey Toobin
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
- Presidents USA
It was the most extraordinary public saga of our time, and Jeffrey Toobin gives us a definitive history of the ordeal that very nearly brought down a president. Here is the whole story of the Clinton sex scandals — from its beginnings in a Little Rock hotel to its climax on the floor of the United States Senate with only the second vote on presidential removal in American history. Rich with Shakespearean characters and dramatic secrets, fueled with the high octane of a sensational legal thriller, and tinged by misguided, outlandish behavior that was played out at the very highest levels, Toobin’s A Vast Conspiracy brings a dignity and integrity to this story that it has never before received.
My Life by William J. Clinton
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
- Presidents USA
President Bill Clinton’s My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public.
The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton by Peter Baker
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
- Presidents USA
The journalist who co-wrote the original article breaking the Monica Lewinsky scandal for the Washington Post reveals the complete story behind the headlines: a riveting, in-depth account of an event unique in American history – the first impeachment of an elected president. “For all of the titillation about thongs and cigars, the story of the impeachment and trial of William Jefferson Clinton was not so much about sex as it was about power. It may have started with an unseemly rendezvous near the Oval Office, but it mushroomed into the Washington battle of a generation, ultimately dragging in all three branches of government .
#6-28
(Appear on 1 List)
A Complicated Man: The Life of Bill Clinton as Told by Those Who Know Him by Michael Takiff
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
Though Bill Clinton has been out of office since 2001, public fascination with him continues unabated. Many books about Clinton have been published in recent years, but shockingly, no single-volume biography covers the full scope of Clinton’s life from the cradle to the present day, not even Clinton’s own account, My Life. More troubling still, books on Clinton have tended to be highly polarized, casting the former president in an overly positive or negative light.
A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Carl Bernstein
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
Drawing on hundreds of interviews with colleagues and friends and with unique access to campaign records, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Carl Bernstein has given us a book that enables us, at last, to address the questions Americans are insistently—even obsessively—asking: Who is she? What is her character? What is her political philosophy? And, what can we expect from Hillary if we elect her President of the United States?
America Between the Wars: From 11/9 to 9/11 by Derek Chollet & Goldgeier, James
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed, taking the Cold War down with it. The next twelve years passed in a haze of self-congratulation, Republican confusion, and angst, and economic prosperity—until they ended abruptly with a stunning catastrophe on September 11, 2001.
An Affair of State : The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton by Richard A. Posner
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
President Bill Clinton’s year of crisis, which began when his affair with Monica Lewinsky hit the front pages in January 1998, engendered a host of important questions of criminal and constitutional law, public and private morality, and political and cultural conflict.
Behind the Oval Office by Dick Morris
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
Dick Morris has written the ultimate inside story about the dramatic reelection of President Clinton, one that is certain to stir controversy about the way politics really works in America today. No one before has so vividly described what policy advisers, pollsters, and advertisers do behind the scenes in the Oval Office. And no one has so acutely identified the new political forces that are dominating America today.
Bill and Hillary : The Marriage by Christopher Andersen
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
They are, by any definition, one of history’s most remarkable couples: he the irrepressible country-boy populist oozing ambition and Southern charm, she the brilliant lawyer with a taste for power and, in the end, an unshakable allegiance to the man in her life. Together, Bill and Hillary Clinton scaled the heights of power and prestige, only to have his wantonly reckless behavior bring them to the brink of personal and political ruin. Despite the billions of words that have been written about Bill and Hillary, the true nature of their relationship remains a jealously guarded secret.
Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency by Nigel Hamilton
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
A decade-and-a-half after President William Jefferson Clinton first took the oath of office, biographer Nigel Hamilton tells the riveting story of what was possibly the greatest self-reinvention of a president in office in modern times. The Clinton presidency began disastrously—kicking off with the worst transition in living memory and deteriorating through a series of fiascos, from gays in the military to Hillary Clinton’s failed health care reform. How Bill Clinton faced up to his failures and refashioned himself in the White House thereafter is an epic, hitherto unwritten story—a story that climaxes with the trouncing of Bob Dole in the landslide presidential election in 1996. Clinton began his second term as the undisputed and tremendously popular leader of the Western world.
Dear Socks, Dear Buddy : Kids’ Letters to the First Pets by Hillary Rodham Clinton by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
In a world dominated by video games, voice mail, and television, it’s easy to overlook the importance of the written word. If one very important thing parents can do to help their children learn is read to them, then encouraging them to write must run a close second. What better — and more rewarding — way to teach a child these invaluable communication skills than through letter writing?
High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton by Ann Coulter
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Hillary Rodham Clinton : The Evolution of a First Lady by Donnie Radcliffe
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Covering all aspects of America’s controversial former President’s wife, this comprehensive biography offers an unprecedented view of our first baby boomer First Lady, and provides a better understanding of lawyer, board member, and commision member Hillary Clinton.
Hillary’s Choice by Gail Sheehy
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
Gail Sheehy uncovers the lifelong imprint of Hillary’s drillmaster father and the frustrated mother who taught her to bottle up her emotions and who took subversive pleasure in teaching her only daughter how to fight like a man. We listen in as Hillary describes, in letters to a college pen pal, her dreams of becoming a star and her depression when trying to choose an identity. And we meet her first love, the handsome Georgetown man who melted her midwestern puritanism but lost her to the more ambitious Bill Clinton.
Living History by Rodham Hillary Clinton
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
Hillary Rodham Clinton is known to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Yet few beyond her close friends and family have ever heard her account of her extraordinary journey. She writes with candor, humor and passion about her upbringing in suburban, middle-class America in the 1950s and her transformation from Goldwater Girl to student activist to controversial First Lady.
On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency by Elizabeth Drew
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
A noted journalist assesses the current president’s actions on such issues as the NAFTA agreement, gays in the military, foreign concerns, and advisor rivalries.
POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words that Defined the Clinton Presidency by Michael Waldman
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
A man in love with history, obsessed with politics and policy, and highly attuned to the power of words, Clinton used the bully pulpit relentlessly. We see the sources of his uncanny ability to connect with the public. We see how he changed the presidency, using his speeches and executive actions to address long-ignored domestic issues. And we see how he worked to frame a new role for a smaller but active government. “POTUS Speaks” is the first contemporary history of the two terms of the Clinton presidency to be written by a key participant. It is a major contribution to the consideration of Clinton’s legacy.
Sell Out: The Inside Story of President Clinton’s Impeachment by David P. Schippers
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
One of the driving, behind-the-scenes figures in the Clinton impeachment trial was David Schippers, a Chicago prosecutor who made his name by prosecuting mobsters in the 1960s.
State of a Union: Inside the Complex Marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton by Jerry Oppenheimer
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Ever since William Jefferson Clinton and Hillary Diane Rodham entered the political arena in Arkansas more than a quarter-century ago, millions of words have been written about them — from staid biography to pop psychology, from blatant hagiography to lurid diatribes, to the Star Report. Even so, they have remained enigmas, with many unanswered questions.
The Choice: How Bill Clinton Won by Bob Woodward
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
The Choice is Bob Woodward’s classic story of the quest for power, focusing on the 1996 presidential campaign as a case study of money, public opinion polling, attack advertising, handlers, consultants, and decision making in the midst of electoral uncertainty. President Bill Clinton is examined in full in the contest with Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the Republican presidential nominee. The intimacy and detail of Woodward’s account of the candidates and their wives show the epic human struggle in this race for the White House.
The Death of American Virtue by Ken Gormley
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
Ten years after one of the most polarizing political scandals in American history, author Ken Gormley offers an insightful, balanced, and revealing analysis of the events leading up to the impeachment trial of President William Jefferson Clinton. From Ken Starr’s initial Whitewater investigation through the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit to the Monica Lewinsky affair, The Death of American Virtue is a gripping chronicle of an ever-escalating political feeding frenzy.
The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton by Joe Conason
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
When Hillary Clinton spoke of “a vast right-wing conspiracy” determined to bring down the president, many people dismissed the idea. Yet if the first lady’s accusation was exaggerated, the facts that have since emerged point toward a covert and often concerted effort by Bill Clinton’s enemies–abetted by his own reckless behavior–which led inexorably to impeachment. Clinton’s foes launched a cascade of well-financed attacks that undermined American democracy and nearly destroyed the Clinton presidency.
The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Cited by White House press secretary Mike McCurry as the origin of every major Clinton scandal story, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has done more than any other journalist to expose the truth about the Clintons. Now Evans-Pritchard is breaking the biggest scoop of all: an assiduously documented expose of “the black-water scandals” – the scandals that have gone unreported in the American media, but that characterize the Clinton presidency as the most corrupt in history. Among the secrets Evans-Pritchard exposes: The Oklahoma City bombing as a government sting operation that flew out of control when the stingers were outstung. Evans-Pritchard tells the story that the FBI and the Justice Department don’t want you to know. Eyewitnesses to corruption in Clinton’s Arkansas – many have met with brutal harassment, physical intimidation, and, in some cases, even suspicious death. Those who survived tell Evans-Pritchard their story. Bill Clinton’s involvement in the drug underworld of Arkansas. Evans-Pritchard talks to the smugglers, the Arkansas state troopers, the federal agents and prosecutors, and the young girls who were the victims of “the good times.” The true story of Vince Foster’s death – what the official report won’t tell you, but what eyewitnesses saw, and why the government is being sued for falsifying sworn testimony. In the aftermath of Vince Foster, the shocking story of the murder of Jerry Parks, head of Clinton security in Little Rock. Why Parks predicted his own death. Why the Left was right about Mena Airport: Evans-Pritchard discovers the missing evidence.
The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point by David Broder & Johnson, Haynes
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
Taking as an example the Clinton health care reform initiative, the authors show how a policy that aimed to please everyone ended by satisfying no one due to pressure groups, political gamesmanship and the inertia of the American ‘system’.
Truth at Any Cost : Ken Starr and the Unmaking of Bill Clinton by Susan Schmidt
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
In Truth at Any Cost, two of America’s preeminent investigative reporters, Susan Schmidt and Michael Weisskopf, reveal for the first time what really went on inside the Office of the Independent Counsel. The book details Ken Starr’s motivations, his inner struggles, and his anguish as he comes under attack by Clinton’s ferocious partisans. It goes behind the locked doors of Starr’s office as prosecutors make the fateful decision to pursue the case against Clinton for lying to conceal his embarrassing affair with an intern half his age. Schmidt and Weisskopf lay bare what happened on the night when FBI agents first confronted Monica Lewinsky, how the White House launched a political jihad to survive, and how Starr’s team agonized over Clinton’s fate.
Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter’s Story by Michael Isikoff
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
Isikoff had no agenda when he started investigating President Clinton’s conduct other than to get at the truth. Now, after accomplishing a remarkable case of journalistic detective work, Isikoff gives us something even more significant: a work that illuminates the psychologically troubling behavior of a president, an Administration that has enabled his actions, a motley crew of Clinton-haters who would stop at nothing to topple the president, and a rapidly changing media grappling with the ever-shifting boundaries between public and private behavior. Uncovering Clinton will surely be the definitive account of our nation’s biggest political scandal since Watergate.
The Best Bill Clinton Book Lists Consulted
| Source | Article |
| All The Presidents Books | One Through Forty-Two or Forty-Three |
| At Times Dull | Janet’s Presidential Biography Project & Blog |
| Best Presidential Bios | The Best Presidential Biographies |
| Huffington Post | Presidents’ Day History: The Must-Reads Of Presidential Biographies |
| Mandi Lindner | 44 Presidents and Their Definitive Biographies |
| Mashable | Why I’m spending a year reading about every U.S. president |
| PBS | Further Reading: Related Books and Websites |
| Presidential History | Presidential Resources |
| Presidential History (Again) | Pulitzer Prize Winning Books About Presidents |
| Presidents USA | FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT BILL CLINTON |
| The Tailored Man | The 44 Best Presidential Biographies |
| The Washington Post | The Fix’s list of best presidential biographies |
