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Overview
Behind the headlines, there was one fascinating woman. This is her story.
Monica Lewinsky. You know her name, you know her face, and you think you know her story: the pretty young intern who began an illicit affair with the President of the United States-- a liaison that ignited an unprecedented political scandal and found Bill Clinton as the second U.S. president to ever be impeached. But there is much more to the Monica Lewinsky story than just that. Now, Andrew Morton, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Diana: Her True Story, takes you beyond the headlines and the sound bites to discover the real Monica Lewinsky, a woman as interesting, intelligent, and misunderstood as they come.
Read Monica's Story and you'll discover:
* How a difficult childhood shaped Monica's tumultuous adult romances
* Her relationship with Bill Clinton: how she saw a side to him few know-- and why she sometimes still misses her "Handsome"
* The betrayal by Linda Tripp-- and how Monica's trusting nature snared her in Tripp's treacherous web
* The horror of Kenneth Starr's exhaustive and intrusive inquiry-- how it affected her and her family, and how it still haunts her
* Where Monica will go from here: What are her career plans? Will she realize her dream of marrying and starting a family in the wake of the scandal?
* And much, much more
With sixteen pages of photos.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewWe have heard everything about her, from every conceivable source — friends, family, enemies, legal documents. The country has seen Monica Lewinsky from every possible angle. What more could be said about her that we don't already know?
There are those who view the President's impeachment as a morality tale; others see it as a constitutional crisis; still others see it as a crisis averted — after all, he was not convicted, and he remains in office. No matter how the impeachment is regarded, the catalyst for all of this remains a solitary young woman who made an unfortunate choice, and unleashed a series of events that whipped entirely out of her control. And no matter how much you think you know about Monica, the fact is that up until now, you have seen her only through the eyes of others.
Monica's Story is truly that, an unvarnished tale of her decision to become sexually involved with the President of the United States. What sort of woman is it who puts herself in a position of being "on call" to a man who is married, with a child, and who occupies the highest office in the nation? What sort of woman is it who allows her lover to ignore her for months, merely hoping for some glance of acknowledgement, some simple and friendly gesture? And what sort of woman is it who calls the President "Butthead"?
Morton presents Monica as a fairly complicated person, one whose self-esteem was so low that she couldn't envision herself as being a man's only love. Her struggles with her appearance, and the viciousness of the mediawhoportrayed her simplistically in order to sell newspapers, magazines and TV ads, are documented in painful detail. While Linda Tripp claims, "I am you," Monica is shown to truly be a very human and understandable young woman who made a choice and has reaped the consequences a hundredfold. At no time does she refuse responsibility for her actions; at no time does she pretend that somehow this is not her fault. And while horribly aware of her place in history, she tells us, "I don't want to make a career out of being Monica Lewinsky. I haven't done anything to be proud of."
This is a personal, painful, raw account of a young woman's mistake, and the horrors of a world which rushed in to take advantage of that mistake. Throughout her ordeal, she has grown significantly — these events have changed her from the bubbly, naive and engaging girl she was when she met the President to a phenomenally self-possessed, cynical, and mistrustful woman. She casts blame where it deserves to be cast — on herself, on the President, on Kenneth Starr and Linda Tripp. As Andrew Sullivan wrote in his article in The New York Times, "If this morality tale is essentially about honesty, then Ms. Lewinsky is its heroine." Her story is the missing piece to a puzzle of historic importance, and it is long overdue.
Michiko Kakutani
...[M]ight well be called The Miseducation of Monica Lewinsky....Its obsessive account of teen-age shenanigansits...prattling about sex and self-esteem...sadly sum up the sorry state of affairs our culture has reached....D-Day no longer refers to World War II but to "Dump Day" in the saga of Monica and Bill. —The New York TimesFrancine Prose
...[O]ur costly, deeply destructive recent political crisis is finally revealed for what it was: an Oval Office teen romance. —People MagazineArianna Huffington
...[A] graphic account, though not as graphic as the Starr Report, of the buxom intern as wronged royal mistress....[W]hat we are left with is the terminal impression of two self-indulgent, self-obsessed teenagers — one of whom just happened to be President... —National ReviewLisa Schwarzbaum
[Morton] stands up for her like a protective big brother....[He] suggests themes to explain how life went so awfully awry for her. — Entertainment WeeklyMichael Oreskes
...[O]ne factor emerges: the complete absence of grown-ups. No one...ever says no and means it....Morton's portrait of Monica's life inside the media frenzy has moments of fascination....The book is clearly a rush job, thus a testament to modern culture.—New York Times Book Review
Michael Oreskes
...[O]ne factor emerges: the complete absence of grown-ups. No one...ever says no and means it....Morton's portrait of Monica's life inside the media frenzy has moments of fascination....The book is clearly a rush job, thus a testament to modern culture.— The New York Times Book Review
Michiko Kakutani
...[M]ight well be called The Miseducation of Monica Lewinsky....Its obsessive account of teen-age shenanigans, its...prattling about sex and self-esteem...sadly sum up the sorry state of affairs our culture has reached....D-Day no longer refers to World War II but to "Dump Day" in the saga of Monica and Bill.— The New York Times
Lisa Schwarzbaum
[Morton] stands up for her like a protective big brother....[He] suggests themes to explain how life went so awfully awry for her.— Entertainment Weekly
Arianna Huffington
...[A] graphic account, though not as graphic as the Starr Report, of the buxom intern as wronged royal mistress....[W]hat we are left with is the terminal impression of two self-indulgent, self-obsessed teenagers -- one of whom just happened to be President...— National Review