Mastering the Presidency

Bill Clinton

The second volume in the critically acclaimed biography of Bill Clinton

This book is impressive, displaying great intelligence

Written with verve, researchd with diligence, this is already the best and deepest assessment of Bill Clinton

Nigel Hamilton is one of Britain's most distinguished biographers. He began his career with The Brothers Mann, a life of two of Germany's greatest 20th century authors. He then won the Whitbread Prize and Templer Medal for Monty, his definitive, three-volume official life of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, following which his JFK: Reckless Youth proved an international bestseller. He became the first Professor of Biography in Britain, at De Montfort University, and currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, where he is working on the last part of his Clinton trilogy.

Nigel Hamilton's account of Bill Clinton's early life and career - Bill Clinton: An American Journey - drew widespread praise. Now, in Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency, Nigel Hamilton charts the experience of the 42nd President as he took presidential oath of office- and how he fared therafter in the piranha pool of Washington D.C. 
 
Hamilton charts what was possibly the greatest disaster and re-reinvention of a president in office in modern times. How Bill Clinton faced up to his failures, and refashioned himself in the White House is an epic story. With a thriving U.S. economy and hard-won wisdom in international affairs and in combating the rise of terrorism, Clinton would begin his second term as the undisputed, immensely popular leader of the Western world - aware, however, that terrors ant treason within America loomed as large as dangers abroad. 
 
Insightful, balanced, prodigiously researched and a joy to read, Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency is set to become, alongside its prequel, the classic story of Clinton's extraordinary effort to be a modern president, in a modern world-and a chronicle one of the most extraordinary reversals of fortune in modern American politics.

An American Journey

Revelatory biography by controversial and award-winning biographer

Nigel Hamilton's fascinating portrait...demonstrates how the private life of a charismatic president can be incorporated within a serious biography that is compellingly readable

A prodigious amount of research - the most complete portrait yet of the formative years [of Clinton]

An ambitious undertaking - Clinton is a man of paradoxes and Hamilton delves deep into all of them

A gripping account of the rise of one of the most charismatic politicians of our age

Nigel Hamilton was born in 1944, and studied history at Cambridge University.  His first major biography, The Brothers Mann, was critically acclaimed both in Britain and the USA, and widely translated.  Monty, his first 3-volume official life of Field Marshal Montgomery, won the Whitbread Award for Biography and the Templar medal.  JFK; Reckless Youth was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic in 1992, selling over a quarter of a million copies in hardback.

Nigel Hamilton brings all the magisterial authority he brought to his Whitbread-winning biography of Monty, and all the talent for tracking down and verifying hidden, controversial material that he showed in JFK: Reckless Youth, which topped the American bestseller charts for months, in this new biography of Bill Clinton. Born into a 'white trash' family in backwoods, racially segregated Arkansas, he suffered under an alcoholic, violent stepfather, on one occasion having to fight him physically in order to protect his mother. As a youth he would become inspired by the civil rights movement, particularly Martin Luther King, and as a student became a long-haired hippy musician, involved in radical politics and also discovering free love. Hamilton tells the story of how Clinton's sexual and political career developed hand in hand. This is a book about sexual politics on many levels, showing how Clinton's life was formed by changing attitudes. Here is a man who, far from being a sexual predator or exploiter of his position - like JFK - was swept to power because women adored him, whether Democratic party helpers, the women of the American electorate - or indeed Hilary Clinton, whose powerfully manipulative personality is shown to have been vital to his success,. Clinton has been polygamous throughout his adult life, and Hamilton's fascinating portrait of a marriage examines Hilary's relationship with his quite astonishing number of girlfriends. The book also covers his time at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, his political apprenticeship and his rise to power, culminating in his election as President in '92.

Nigel Hamilton

A mighty president's-eye view of post-war US history

A provocative, stimulating, infuriating and readable history

Incisive and highly entertaining...engaging... American Caesars is a commanding study on the nature of personal authority and the presidency. It is also a poignant one

As Hamilton hits his straps, the book springs to life with an authentic feeling for each man...Rogues and (a few) heroes - they are all here in this impressive gallop through eighty years of US history. Here's hoping that Barack Obama ends up on the right side of the ledger

It is a brilliant idea to take Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars...and to make it the template for a 500-page collective portrait of the 12 emperors of America...The effect is a compelling rhythm and a good sense of proportion

This is an excellent journey through recent American history, which serves another of history's most fundamental purposes: to help us better understand the present through the past

I greatly enjoyed Nigel Hamilton's American Caesars

These brisk studies of the 12 US presidents from "empathetic", "prescient" Franklin D Roosevelt to 'bullying, snide" George W Bush combine readability with concision and sharp judgements

Lives of the US Presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush

The twentieth century has been called 'the American Century'. Not since the days of the Roman emperors has there been such a succession of rulers holding the fate of the world in their hands. Now, award-winning biographer Nigel Hamilton gives us the lives of the twelve men, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush, who presided over America's imperial fortunes - the good, the bad and the truly awful. 
 
How did these American Caesars reach the White House? What were the challenges they faced when they got there and how did they meet them? And who were these men in their private lives? 
 
Compulsively readable, packed with unforgettable characters as well as stories, lessons and revelations, American Caears is essential reading for our times.

American Caesars

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Praise for American Caesars

A mighty president's-eye view of post-war US history

A provocative, stimulating, infuriating and readable history

Incisive and highly entertaining...engaging... American Caesars is a commanding study on the nature of personal authority and the presidency. It is also a poignant one

A mighty president's-eye view of post-war US history

A provocative, stimulating, infuriating and readable history

Incisive and highly entertaining...engaging... American Caesars is a commanding study on the nature of personal authority and the presidency. It is also a poignant one

A mighty president's-eye view of post-war US history

A provocative, stimulating, infuriating and readable history

Incisive and highly entertaining...engaging... American Caesars is a commanding study on the nature of personal authority and the presidency. It is also a poignant one

Books by Nigel Hamilton

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