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.

[Syncro]

"Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison.

"Battle Royal" is perhaps the most memorable chapter in Ralph Ellison's acclaimed novel, "Invisible Man," published 51 years ago.

Banned in "Boston" LOL

[RJL]

Bill gave Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass to Hillary, Monica and at least one of his other conquests. One would think that would be a favorite of Bill's.

[Syncro]

If only we could get One Hundred Years of Solitude from the Clintons. Along with us hearing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (the GreyBar Hotel).

If only he was the Invisible Man instead of trying to be the Imitation of Christ.

He needs the Denial of Death so he can live out his life in prison contemplating his teasonous crimes.

He should have not used Politics as a Vocation

He wants to believe this: You Can't Go Home Again but he will go home to his master in the great dark abyss.

He doesn't realize that this is properly called Living Lying History by Dennis's ex-wife Hilliary Rodman Clinton

The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot. And he still thinks this equals one dollar...

And lastly, this is his story: King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism.

[arasina]

[The Great RJ]

I was saddened --deeply saddened -- that De Sade's classic Justine wasn't on Bill's list not to mention the Kama Sutra.

[Randjuke]

[Lazamataz]

[Tall_Texan]

"That book is definitely mah favorite. First, it's all about me. Secondly, I just love re-reading the dirty parts. I just wish they had included the part about me saving the Constitution."

[Tall_Texan]

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

Fitting.

[Bars4Bill]

No mention of the big, fat Bible he carried as a prop for eight years of Sundays?

[in the Arena]

Ha ! You'd better put FM 21-11 on that list :O)

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Very well said. The list sounds like the result of a socialist poll taken at an intellectually dishonest university. What propaganda would impress socialists and con the sheeple?

[the rifleman]

I played first chair tenor sax in highschool and I can tell you this, I've heard toon play and all I ever heard was a few whole notes, maybe a couple of half notes. He never bent a note and I can tell he plays with a number two beginners reed. Lets just for argument sake leave the saxophone and his intellect separate. In fact, I believe that I could teach an average person who has never held a sax how to play what I've heard him play in a month if they would pratice some every day. Not trying to jump your case or anything, it's just that when that turd got elected and I saw him play the sax, I though it was such a shame that a beautiful instrument like the sax would always be associated with this psyco. And the applause over a few simple notes... Blah :(

[newzhawk]

"Clinton is supposed to have an excellent long term memory" as well as short term,,,,,AND YET......he and the Hildebeast can't recall a thing when it comes to their financial dealings or criminal mischief!

[wideminded]

I agree that one would not think much of Clinton's saxophone playing from his appearance on Arsenio. But I once heard an interview with a someone who practiced with him in high school. It sounded like he was extremely devoted to practicing his saxophone at that time. Also when Clinton visited the Czech Republic he went out for a night on the town with Vaclav Havel. Apparently, at one jazz club, Clinton got up on stage and played saxophone. It seems like he would not have taken the risk of humiliating himself in front of Havel if he had absolutely no talent.

[Helms]

WE AN ONLY HOPE

[the rifleman]

I wonder, did he play with the band or a short number he has commited to memory? I also wonder who at the night club offered up a sax to play, and who softened his reed for him? Yuck! I'm not saying that he has no talent, what he has is begginers talent. We all have some of that, it comes through persistance at something. Nor will I argue that he does not have superficial intellect, he does, just like a psychopath. But if you are trying to sell me on the fact that he has a highly gifted intellect, I'll never believe it. What IS is and Wanita Broadrick (sp)was all I needed to hear to realize that he is gifted in only one area, depravity.

[RightWhale]

"Homage to Catalonia," George Orwell.

It's a tough book, easy to read. Find a copy and read it.

[Bars4Bill]

Also when Clinton visited the Czech Republic he went out for a night on the town with Vaclav Havel. Apparently, at one jazz club, Clinton got up on stage and played saxophone. It seems like he would not have taken the risk of humiliating himself in front of Havel if he had absolutely no talent.

An American "president," with nothing better to do than blow sax in a Czech bar, proved himself bereft of both humiliation and talent, not to mention class. Bill Clinton is a piece of garbage, a wannabe lounge lizard, a slack-jawed galoot, and he still can't play the sax.

[temijin]

don't consider myself to be a big brain, but can't imagine I wouldn't kick his ass in any debate abvout anything. I'll just read up before the debate and impress him with my knowledge on the subject.