The book details the business partnerships the Clintons had with the McDougals from the 1970's on the 1990's and its fall out. The story stretches from Arkansas to the White House and even goes a bit into the suicide of Vince Foster.

Stewart makes no judgments as to whether any impropriety occurred in any business dealings, so this is a good place to start for an objective reader who wants to make up his own mind about the whole sordid mess.

18 of 23 found the following review helpful:

Convinced this Republican  Apr 22, 2005
By Michael Heath
I read this book in 1997 when the paperback came out. I approached this book as a moderate GOP much in love with Reagan and Bush 41. I never voted for Clinton, but was intrigued by him for several reasons:

1) He was executing wonderfully in '97 (see Morris' "Behind the Oval Office" for this period), even though the GOP-dominated house had elevated partisan politics to the art form it is today.

2) The Press was crucifying him over Whitewater and I did not understand why, it all seemed so trivial.

My conclusions:

There is a case to be that Hillary Clinton may have evaded taxes and obstructed justice - while criminal and deserving of law enforcement investigation, no reason for an investigation against the President instigated by the DoJ.

Stewart confirms that the investigation of Whitewater was pure politics of personal destruction. Bill Clinton did nothing wrong, certainly nothing that demanded any sort of investigation and obstructed his ability to preside over our nation.

There were trivial matters that make President Clinton less than perfect, but you can find dirt on any ambituous person. The question is, did his actions have a negative impact on our country? This book presents no evidence of that, the only negativity emanating out of this was the ammunition it provided to the GOP and the media to divert our attention from matters of State.

One somewhat comic note was the number of idiots that were part of the Clinton circle. While Clinton was a master at bringing together extremely bright and powerful moderates and attempting to pull the Dems out of the socialistic FDR era, the people he associated with more regularly are a hoot!

9 of 11 found the following review helpful:

Balanced, accessible and ultimately so sad  Jan 09, 2003

James B. Stewart is a very rare writer, indeed -- especially in regards to the Clintons. He's a genuine reporter looking for the facts and he appears to have no agenda (meaning he's not the apologist Gail Sheehy is, nor is he the demonizer Anne Coulter is). He presents the failed land deal of Whitewater for what it was -- a bad and perhaps even improper investment that was made to look illegal by the stumbling, bumbling and arrogance of the Clintons. Ditto for Hillary's commodities trading. There are no high crimes here, and if the First Lady hadn't been so determined to protect her privacy it may have just evaporated. If only Bill and Hillary had listened to lawyer (and Watergate veteran) Nussbaum and made their records/returns available in the first place, taxpayers would have been spared millions of dollars in investigations and the President would have been better able to concentrate on health care, education, foreign policy and all the other issues he discussed in the campaign. And if a special prosecutor hadn't already been in place, it's possible none of us would even know the name "Monica Lewinsky." It almost made me ache for what might have been.

Stewart makes the complicated accessible and breathes life into Little Rock and White House denizens. Jim MacDougall, Nussbaum and especially Vince Foster are more sympathetic, human and ultimately tragic than ever before. And I wonder how new This Week commentator George Stephanopolous feels about this book ... This book does not depict him in his finest hour.

9 of 11 found the following review helpful:

Whitewater OD  Apr 19, 2002
By John G. Hilliard
This is the "Absolutely, positively, without a doubt everything you want to know about Whitewater" book. I really do not think there is one shred of info left out, the Independent Prosecutor would be hard pressed to put together such a detailed and complete history. I doubt even the combined recollection of all the people involved know as much about Whitewater as what is in this book. That should give you a pretty good idea of what the book is about, the author does through in a little about the campaign, travel gate, Vince Foster and a few other early Clinton scandals, but the true heart of the book is the Whitewater investigation.

The book does not flow as quickly as his last book "Den of Thieves" nor is it as gripping. It is, however, a very well constructed and researched book. If you are interested in this particular issue then I have not come across a book with a better non-partisan telling of this story. If you are looking for an overall detailed account of the election or the first four years in the Clinton White House I would suggest the Woodward books "The Agenda" and "The Choice" and the Elizabeth Drew book "Showdown: The Struggle between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House".

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

More timely now than it was in '97  Mar 11, 2008
By Jimi Ellis
I understand there is no intelligence requirement prior to voting, but at the very least this book should be mandatory reading before the upcoming election.
People should know that James Stewart was actually invited by Hillary Clinton to write this expose. When the truth became far less flattering than she would have scripted she attempted to control the author's work.
Mr. Stewart refused any intervention and went on to publish the book with out the blessing of the wicked witch of the east.
The attention to detail is flawless. The accuracy is frightening and the truth is impossible to ignore.

See all 21 customer reviews on Amazon.com