The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories
Encyclopedia
The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories is a critical biography about certain episodes during the administration of former United States president Bill Clinton
by English author and investigative journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
.
, Washington, D.C, an imprint of Eagle Publishing caused controversy in the USA. Evans-Pritchard, the author, who at the time was chief editor in Washington DC for the Sunday Telegraph
, covered events during the Clinton administration that received lilttle attention from American writers. In particular, the book investigates the death of former deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster.
The Secret Life appears to expose Clinton's apparent use of drugs, frequentation of prostitutes, and lies to the people who surrounded him including friends, business partners, and political colleagues.
In the book he also elaborates on assertions that the Oklahoma City bombing
was an FBI
sting operation
that went horribly wrong, that warnings by an ATF
undercover agent were ignored, and that the Justice Department
subsequently engaged in a cover-up.
In Clinton's America, Evans-Pritchard found: "The way American reporters cover Arkansas is exactly the way they covered Nicaragua, which is they didn't go out into the hills and talk to ordinary people," he noted in 1997.
Some of Evans' work has been criticiced as: little more than wild flights of conspiratorial fancy coupled with outrageous and wholly uncorroborated allegations although Robert Novak
defends Evans-Pritchard as: ...being no conspiracy-theory lunatic.... [H]e was known in Washington for accuracy, industry and courage.
However, Gene Lyons
, columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
and author of Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater (Franklin Square Press, 1996). says in an article: 'When necessary, Evans-Pritchard resorts to even more questionable methods. The temptation, in addressing so manifestly absurd and error-filled a piece of work, is to raillery. In form, Evans-Pritchard's book is a feverish concatenation of what his countryman, Guardian Washington correspondent Martin Walker, calls "the Clinton legends" into one vast, delusional epic.'
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
by English author and investigative journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is the international business editor of the Daily Telegraph.A long-time opponent of the EU's constitution and monetary union, he was the Telegraph's Europe correspondent in Brussels from 1999 to 2004....
.
Content
The book, published in 1997 by Regnery PublishingRegnery Publishing
Regnery Publishing in Washington, D.C., is a publisher which specializes in conservative books characterized on their website as "contrary to those of 'mainstream' publishers in New York." Since 1993, Regnery Publishing has been a division of Eagle Publishing, which also owns the weekly magazine...
, Washington, D.C, an imprint of Eagle Publishing caused controversy in the USA. Evans-Pritchard, the author, who at the time was chief editor in Washington DC for the Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
, covered events during the Clinton administration that received lilttle attention from American writers. In particular, the book investigates the death of former deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster.
The Secret Life appears to expose Clinton's apparent use of drugs, frequentation of prostitutes, and lies to the people who surrounded him including friends, business partners, and political colleagues.
In the book he also elaborates on assertions that the Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
was an FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
sting operation
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
that went horribly wrong, that warnings by an ATF
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice...
undercover agent were ignored, and that the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
subsequently engaged in a cover-up.
In Clinton's America, Evans-Pritchard found: "The way American reporters cover Arkansas is exactly the way they covered Nicaragua, which is they didn't go out into the hills and talk to ordinary people," he noted in 1997.
Praise and criticism
In the words of some commentators, the book was "...the most accurate, thorough and fearless account of Clinton corruption yet produced. It offers a detailed expose of the Clintons' ties to drug lords and death squads, in an America rapidly descending into Salvadoran-style lawlessness".Some of Evans' work has been criticiced as: little more than wild flights of conspiratorial fancy coupled with outrageous and wholly uncorroborated allegations although Robert Novak
Robert Novak
Robert David Sanders "Bob" Novak was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and conservative political commentator. After working for two newspapers before serving for the U.S. Army in the Korean War, he became a reporter for the Associated Press and then for...
defends Evans-Pritchard as: ...being no conspiracy-theory lunatic.... [H]e was known in Washington for accuracy, industry and courage.
However, Gene Lyons
Gene Lyons
Gene Lyons is a liberal political columnist and co-author with Joe Conason of The Hunting of the President: The 10 Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton, a documentary book published in 2000, with a supporting film. The book outlines a purported right wing campaign waged against...
, columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell...
and author of Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater (Franklin Square Press, 1996). says in an article: 'When necessary, Evans-Pritchard resorts to even more questionable methods. The temptation, in addressing so manifestly absurd and error-filled a piece of work, is to raillery. In form, Evans-Pritchard's book is a feverish concatenation of what his countryman, Guardian Washington correspondent Martin Walker, calls "the Clinton legends" into one vast, delusional epic.'
External links
- http://www.think-aboutit.com/conspiracy/secret_life_of_bill_clinton.htm Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Transcript (abbreviated) of C-Span interview from 26 October 1997