Word: maraniss
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Maraniss' documentation and research are solid throughout, but his restraint is his biggest strength. Even when the author appears sorely tempted to dismiss Clinton as a liar, a cheat or a lech, Maraniss refuses. He understands that Clinton's character is bigger, and better than that...
...Whether he was doing something admirable or questionable, I would say the same thing to myself: Well, that's Clinton," Maraniss writes in his preface. "In that sense, I came to like him even when I disliked him and dislike him even when I liked him...He is a big character, whether he is acting big-hearted or small...
That may seem like a paradox, but Clinton, Maraniss shows us, is complicated. He is thoughtful and sensitive about sexuality. Gay friends of the president recall how they were able to express feelings about their sexuality to Clinton and no one else. Yet Clinton's own sexual behavior is hardly exemplary. As governor of Arkansas, Clinton did, in fact, use state troopers to arrange sexual liaisons...
...nailing down that fact, Maraniss may have done his most awe-inspiring piece of reporting. The author was able to get Clinton's former Chief of Staff and chief protector, Betsey Wright, to tell him on-the-record about a conversation they had when he was mulling a bid for the presidency...
...letters to his first girlfriend, Denise Hyland, are some of Maraniss' most revealing primary documents. "To be adrift in a stormy sea is no sin," Clinton writes in a letter to console Hyland, who is confused about her future. "Perhaps it is essential to really knowing yourself and seeking your future...