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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 973.929092 EAN: 9780743204132 Edition: 1st Touchstone Ed ISBN: 0743204131 Label: Touchstone Manufacturer: Touchstone Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 448 Publication Date: October 13, 2000 Publisher: Touchstone Studio: Touchstone Editorial Review: Amazon.com: What--another book about the messes Bill Clinton got himself into? Well, yes, but with a difference: Jeffrey Toobin's A Vast Conspiracy is the first to provide readers with comprehensive behind-the-scenes details of the machinations of independent counsel Kenneth Starr's team of prosecutors, lawyers for Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones, and congressional members as the president's "inappropriate relationship" snowballed into the country's first impeachment proceedings in over a century. Toobin's narrative is one of the most levelheaded versions of the 1998 scandal yet published, although he has very few kind words for anybody involved. "No other major political controversy in American history produced as few heroes as this one," he notes, and "in spite of his consistently reprehensible behavior, Clinton was, by comparison, the good guy in this struggle." While debunking Hillary Rodham Clinton's claims that she and her husband were the victims of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" (a claim that ignores Clinton's responsibility for his actions), Toobin does demonstrate how lawyers for Paula Jones collaborated with Linda Tripp and Lucianne Goldberg to build the most damaging case possible against the president. (He also suggests, not without cause, that Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff worked more closely with Tripp and Goldberg than he reported in his own book, Uncovering Clinton.) While for the most part discreetly judgmental, A Vast Conspiracy sometimes borders on cruel in its descriptions of Monica Lewinsky: after describing a 45-minute discussion between Clinton and his sometime sex partner, Toobin comments, "An actual conversation with Lewinsky may have been the thing that cured the president of his infatuation," and then later, "There were few better measures of Tripp's dedication to her book research and Clinton-hating than the simple fact that she tolerated Lewinsky's inane chatter for so long." Yet his portrayal of Lewinsky as "a genuine, if occasional, sexual partner as well as an obsessed, unhinged fan" is, thanks to his rich storytelling abilities, compelling. (Whether it's true remains to be seen; some readers of his previous book, The Run of His Life, believe that Toobin's portrayal of O.J. Simpson seriously underestimated the suspected killer.) And, although it will no doubt get overlooked amidst all the salacious details of the case, Toobin makes a good argument for how the whole brouhaha was an inevitable result of several decades of "legal activism," in which lawsuits were used to achieve broad political changes. Between Richard Posner's musings on the legal aspects of the impeachment hearings in An Affair of State and Toobin's narrative reconstruction of the events leading up to the impeachment, we have the beginnings of a calm consideration of just what exactly happened to American politics during Clinton's second term. --Ron Hogan Product Description: THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER It was the most extraordinary public saga of our time, and Jeffrey Toobin gives us a definitive history of the ordeal that very nearly brought down a president. Here is the whole story of the Clinton sex scandals -- from its beginnings in a Little Rock hotel to its climax on the floor of the United States Senate with only the second vote on presidential removal in American history. Rich with Shakespearean characters and dramatic secrets, fueled with the high octane of a sensational legal thriller, and tinged by misguided, outlandish behavior that was played out at the very highest levels, Toobin's A Vast Conspiracy brings a dignity and integrity to this story that it has never before received. The Clinton sex scandals will shape forever how we think about the signature issues of our day -- sex, privacy, civil rights, and, yes, cigars. A Vast Conspiracy will shape forever how we think about the Clinton scandals. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Mostly LegalNobody comes out of this story looking particularly good -- in case there were any doubts. Jeffrey Toobin has carefully gone over the historical and legal issues and can find no one who lacks culpability. Yes, actually, there was a "vast conspiracy" but it was a conspiracy of lawyers more than politicians. The system has changed. Dissatisfied with political arrangements we now try to shape them to our liking by legal means rather than through the political process. If you don't like someone, ... Read More Rating: - A great readLots of folks have found bias in this book, and I suppose if there is a skew it is ssomewhat favorable towards Clinton, but by no means is this book a Clintonista apologia. I'm somewhere to the right of Vlad the Impaler, and I found it a riveting read and laying out the facts. Toobin does an excellent job of writing an engaging account of a period when the President's pants gripped the nation. You won't be aable to put it down. Rating:  - Fascinating well researched page turnerVery objective treatment of the scandals that nearly toppled the Clinton presidency. Hardcore liberals and conservatives may be disappointed, but the rest of us will appreciate Toobin's witty writeup of the hypocrites on both sides. A+++ Rating:  - Yawn....What this clown calls a 'vast right wing conspiracy' is, in reality, 'the opposition'. When Mr. Zipper attributed the OK City bombing to right wing talk radio, he earned every diatribe ever thrown at him times a million. Rating: - A classic in the makingI suspect A VAST CONSPIRACY will become one of the classic acounts of the Clinton impeachment scandal. Toobin distinguishes himself with thoroughness, factual clarity, and analytical even-handedness. He is willing to dissect and criticize both sides. His conclusion--that the Constitution-shredding rage of Clinton's attackers trumped the president's tawdry adultery and lying--is spot-on, lights out, dead-solid perfect. High points include a lucid first chapter that outlines Toobin's ... Read More |
