About book God And Hillary Clinton: A Spiritual Life (2007)
I have become more interested in 'spiritual biographies' in recent years, since trying to understand a person's values is--in my opinion--essential for understanding why they do the things that they do. This is my second book by Professor Kengor, and most likely my last. His first book, God and Ronald Reagan, was wonderful in its explanation of the President's Christian faith as it related to his anti-communism. Unfortunately, Professor Kengor left off any mention of the less than Christian activities undertaken by President Reagan's administration, and under his orders, in other parts of the world. The biography was incomplete, in other words. Dare I even say, dishonest. In this book, to say that the biographer is unsympathetic is an massive understatement. First, the author admits that much of what he's writing originates from secondary sources who do not provide sources themselves (last time I checked, that was called 'gossip' in academic parlance). Part of this is because the Clintons are tough to research. Part of it is because Kengor hates Hillary Clinton, and would rather make a point at her expense than maintain any kid of intellectual rigor or honesty. So we have what's is the intellectdual equivalent of breathless whispers being presented as history. While Professor Kengor's discussion of Hillary Clinton's life-long Methodist beliefs and practices is interesting, his disagreements with her conclusions--especially as they relate to abortion--color his analysis. There is nothing objective about this biography, in other words: the author 'reads' Hillary through his very conservative lens, and finds her abominable. This is the equivalent of a 'spiritual biography' of George W. Bush that's been written by the editors of The Nation Magazine. Howard Zinn would be proud. A waste of my time. There isn't much that Hillary and I would agree on, but I expect more from someone posing as an academic. This one was written for the choir.
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