Bill Clinton's 21 Favorite Books

CBS ^ | LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Nov. 21, 2003 | Editors

[Helms]

Bill Clinton's 21 Favorite Books

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Nov. 21, 2003

(Photo: AP)

Clinton's presidential library is to open next November on the south bank of the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock.

City, county and state officials, right, tour the Clinton Library building under construction in Little Rock, Ark. (Photo: AP)

(AP) Ah, nothing like curling up in front of the fireplace with 21 of former President Bill Clinton's favorite books.

To coincide with the opening of a Clinton Library-related exhibit of books and gifts he received while president, Clinton has released a list of his 21 favorite books — from his wife's "Living History" to Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" to Thomas a Kempis' "The Imitation of Christ."

Clinton's presidential library is to open next November on the south bank of the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock. A nearby office building, the Cox Creative Center, has hosted a number of preview exhibits, and on Monday opens "America Presents: A Collection of Books and Gifts of the Clinton Presidency." The exhibit runs through Jan. 3, 2004.

Copies of Clinton's 21 favorite books will be on display at the Cox building.

Besides Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's autobiography, Ellison's soaring novel of a black man's journey through white America and Kempis' 15th-century treatise on Christian living, other books of note include Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and Thomas Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again."

The entire list of Clinton's favorite books, listed alphabetically by author:

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Maya Angelou.

"Meditations," Marcus Aurelius.

"The Denial of Death," Ernest Becker.

"Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963," Taylor Branch.

"Living History," Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Lincoln," David Herbert Donald.

"The Four Quartets," T.S. Eliot.

"Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison.

"The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-First Century," David Fromkin.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

"The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes," Seamus Heaney.

"King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa," Adam Hochschild.

"The Imitation of Christ," Thomas a Kempis.

"Homage to Catalonia," George Orwell.

"The Evolution of Civilizations: An Introduction to Historical Analysis," Carroll Quigley.

"Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics," Reinhold Niebuhr.

"The Confessions of Nat Turner," William Styron.

"Politics as a Vocation," Max Weber.

"You Can't Go Home Again," Thomas Wolfe.

"Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny," Robert Wright.

"The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats," William Butler Yeats.

[Helms]

Beckers book is required reading for aging baby boomers with angst over their mortality. Where are any of the 100 Great Books?

Customers who bought this book also bought:

Bad Boys, Bad Men: Confronting Antisocial Personality Disorder by Donald W. Black, et al (Hardcover)

Antisocial Behavior: Personality Disorders from Hostility to Homicide by Benjamin B. Wolman (Paperback)

Inside the Criminal Mind by Stanton Samenow (Author) (Hardcover)

The Emptied Soul by Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig (Paperback)

The Psychopathic Mind: Origins, Dynamics, and Treatment by J. Reid Meloy (Hardcover)

[Squantos]

Playboy....Penthouse....hustler.....

[Stopislamnow]

Clintons Favorite books.

Hustler by Larry Flynt
Penthouse by Bob Guccione
Playboy by Hugh Hefner

Honerable mentions include:

Juggs
Intern Monthly
How to Lie, and Enjoy It!

Favorite Authors:
Marx

Heros:
Himself

[glock rocks]

[Vesuvian]

"...the list was compiled after extensive consulting with focus groups. In fact, rumors swirl that the xxx-president has never read A book, let alone any on his list."

[Richard Kimball]

Obviously another pack of lies. He probably hasn't even read the Cliff's notes for half of these, but it is the required reading list for the wine-drinking, volvo-driving, PBS-watching, limo-liberals. If you peeled off all the layers of fakeness over the real Bill Clinton, would there be anything there? (personally, I think you'd find a combination of Barry Switzer and Joe Isuzu)

[SkyPilot]

"101 Uses for the Oval Office Sink."

[temijin]

the clintons don't "crap" without consulting a focus group, maybe he should have read 1984.

[Jeff Chandler]

You left out "Big-Uns".

[Quix]

Billdo's favorite books:

01. Dick and Jane I
02. Dick and Jane II
03. Dick and Jane III
04. Dick and Jane IV
05. Dick and Mary I
06. Dick and Mary II
07. Dick and Mary III
08. Dick and Mary IV
09. Dick and Juanita I
10. Dick and Juanita II
11. Dick and Juanita III
12. Dick and Juanita IV
13. Dick and Juanita V
14. Dick and Lolita I
15. Dick and Lolita II
16. Dick and Lolita III
17. Dick and Lolita IV
18. Dick and Lolita V
19. Dick and Monica I
20. Dick and Monica II
21. Dick and Monica III
22. Dick and Monica IV
23. Dick and Monica V
24. Dick and Monica VI
25. Dick and Monica VII

Really a no brainer.

As in NO BRAINer.

[DeepDish]

"Selling America" How to finance a presidential campaign by sellling technology to your own worst enemy.

[Sapper26]

Don't forget "Cigar Aficionado"

[wideminded]

In fact, rumors swirl that the xxx-president has never read A book, let alone any on his list.

Whatever one may think of Clinton, not reading books is clearly not one of his faults. But perhaps he did pick these ones with a focus group. I'm not very literary (I've only read one or two of these) but Invisible Man is a great book.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

How tooth-achingly politically correct! How utterly 1970's university syllabus bland. No adult could possible like all this crap. Ask him to tell what insights he gained from "Mediations", what is his favorite phrase from "The Four Quartets". What really intelligent person doesn't have a few odd ball favorites? Like "Dangerous to Man" by Roger Carras or "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"? Stuff that will never making it into the Great Books Anthologies.

[Squantos]

or..........dare I say it ?

Catcher in the Rye !

Stay Safe !

[Helms]

I came across this when doing a Google news search to find out where the -ell he was over Thanksgiving and while his erstwhile mate and co-sociopath was in the Mideast.

Last I knew on the 21st he was in India. These two are driving me bonkers with loathing. They are a mockery of American politics and culture.

[LibWhacker]

(He just won't admit it.)

[tet68]

FM 5-25 should be on anyones reading list.

[Squantos]

I like that book...it's killed a lot of wannabes !

Stay Safe !

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

These two are driving me bonkers with loathing.

Even at this late date, his hypocrisy, vanity and pretentiousness continue to grate me too.