" With firsthand knowledge and first-rate reporting, Gaff Sheehy meticulously peels back the layers of this woman we have so barely understood: revered and reviled First Lady, vulnerable First Victim, flawed tactician, inspired candidate. You cannot know Hillary Rodham Clinton without reading this book."
--LYNN SHERR, ABC NEWS
" Gaff Sheehy is a master at defining the personal as political and the political as personal. Hillary’s Choice is a compelling portrait of a marriage."
--RICHARD REEVES, author of President Kennedy: Profile of Power
This is the story of a woman and a marriage, both so famous the world over, we think we know everything there is to know. But Hillary’s Choice renders America’s First Lady fully human for the first time.
Gall Sheehy uncovers the lifelong imprint of Hillary’s drillmaster father and the frustrated mother who taught her to bottle up her emotions. 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 lost her to the more ambitious Bill Clinton...
Acknowledgments
1. INTO THE FLAMES
CLEANING OUT CLOSETS
THE DRESS REHEARSAL
THE NEED TO KNOW AND THE FEAR OF KNOWING
LET THE WAR BEGIN
THE FAMILY THAT DENIES TOGETHER . . .
2. SLEEPING THROUGH
THE REVOLUTION
KEEPING THE BUBBLE IN THE CENTER
FINDING WAYS TO BE NOTICED
BETTER DEAD THAN RED IN PARK RIDGE
A HARD RAIN'S A-GONNA FALL
WAKING UP
THE BUDDING POLITICIAN
3. "I WONDER WHO IS ME?"
WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
FIGHTING THE INNER DICTATOR
THE WONK GROUP
CHOOSING AN IDENTITY
"MY FEBRUARY DEPRESSION"
THE "RADICALIZATION" OF HILLARY RODHAM
THE KILLING OF THE KING
A RING BY SPRING?
4. FIRST LOVE
THE REVOLUTION IS Us!
GETTING SERIOUS
WEEKENDS IN THE COUNTRY
5. PRUDE MEETS PASSION
MOVEMENT GIRL
LOSING CONTROL
RUNNING WITH BILL
MOVING IN--WITH DOUBTS
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
A COUPLE OF FAVORS
CRAZY DREAMS?
6. THE HOT SPRINGS KID
WILL-O'-THE-WISP
CONSTRUCTING AN AIRTIGHT BOX
THE INVENTION OF BILL CLINTON
FIRST PRAISE
EVERYTHING'S SLICK
HILLARY'S LEAP OF FAITH
THE COLLEGE GIRLFRIEND
WAR ROOM
7. ARKANSAS DIAMONDS AND DENIM
HOW HILLARY WON BILL AND BILL WON HILLARY
THE HILL WOMAN
SUPERWOMAN
CHELSEA MORNING
TAKING CARE OF "BABY"
8. THE RODHAM REGENCY
IN ARKANSAS
TEACHING BILL TO FIGHT BACK
A CALCULATED METAMORPHOSIS
SOMETHING IN COMMON
RETALIATION IN THE BUSHES
HILLARY GOES ARKANSAS
RUNNIN' AND GUNNIN'
HILLARY'S BLIND SPOT
9. MONEY BUSINESS
CALLING E. F. HUTTON
THE ODD COUPLE
A THORN AT THE ROSE
HILLARY'S ARMOR
KING OF THE MOUNTAIN
BETSEY'S BLACK BOOK
10. DIVORCE OR REDEDICATION?
A WOMAN DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE OTHERS
HILLARY'S ADDICTION
THE RE-SEDUCTION OF BILL CLINTON
BACK IN THE GAME
HILLARY'S BRILLIANT CHOICE
11. Two FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
THE ENABLERS
INSULATING HERSELF FROM HURT
JUST MY BILL
FIGHTING GENNIFER WITH JENNIFER
THE LOCKDOWN
RUNNING MATES
THE REAL HONEYMOON
VICTORY
12. THINGS FALL APART
THE ASCENDANCE
THE FIRST SIX HUNDRED DAYS
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE . . .
LOSING THE LAST PROTECTOR
13. DOWN HILL 414
HARD CHOICES
GOD, WHY ME?
BOTTOM OF THE HILL
14. TUNING IN TO ELEANOR
SAVING BILL--AGAIN
THE ELEANOR CHANNEL
SKUNK AT THE GARDEN PARTY
GOING FLAT OUT
15. FIRST WOMAN OF THE WORLD
"THAT LOVELY MEMO"
KEEPING THE CLOSET LOCKED
ALL ALONE AT THE TOP
GLIDING ACROSS COUNTRY
OPEN NECKS
IGNORING MIDDLE AGE
16. EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW
FRIENDLY FLINGS
SPLITTING
HILLARY'S WAR
THE SUMMER OF HER DISCONTENT
CHELSEA EVENING
HOW COULD HE?
HOLIDAY FROM HELL
THE UNREPENTANT
THE DEEP FREEZE
HUMILIATION ABROAD
Now Is THE TIME FOR TURNING
17. THE REBIRTH OF
HILLARY RODHAM
OPENING UP
WHY NOT NEW YORK?
LET HIM WAIT
NEGATIVE SPACE
THE RACE FOR REDEMPTION
OUT OF THE GATE
HILLARY'S HIDDEN HAND IN KOSOVO
THE COUPLE CROSSOVER
QUEEN HILLARY HITS THE STREETS
THE ROAD NOT YET TRAVELED
Notes
Index
