You must bear in mind that Alinsky is more than just someone whose writings she read from books. Alinsky knew her personally and was a mentor to her! The mere fact that she chose Alinsky as the topic for her thesis is significant in itself!
"Clinton's interest was more intellectual -- she turned down the job offer -- and she has said little about Alinsky since their association became a favorite subject of conservative critics during her husband's presidency."
Alinsky knew her personally and was a mentor to her!
"Much of Alinsky's agenda, she wrote after interviewing him three times, "does not sound 'radical.'
"When she returned for her senior year that September, Clinton decided to write a thesis on the war on poverty. Her adviser suggested Alinsky. She called her 92-page work, after a line in a T.S. Eliot poem, " 'There Is Only the Fight . . . ': An Analysis of the Alinsky Model."
"Clinton's 2003 memoir, "Living History," devotes a single paragraph to Alinsky, whom she describes as "a colorful and controversial figure who managed to offend almost everyone." She wrote that she agreed with some of Alinsky's ideas, "particularly the value of empowering people to help themselves," but that she rejected his job offer because of a "fundamental disagreement."
"Alinsky said I would be wasting my time," Clinton recalled, "but my decision was an expression of my belief that the system could be changed from within."
On what do you base your assertion that Alinsky was a "mentor" to Hillary if her sole contact was three interview sessions? If the WaPo article is correct, it was Hillary's adviser who suggested that Alinsky be the subject of her thesis. Do you have information to the contrary?