In Search of Bill Clinton

“Gartner chose wisely. It’s hard to think of someone whose life has provided more fodder for a psychological biography than former President Bill Clinton.” —Time

William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States is undoubtedly the greatest American enigma of our age—a dark horse that captured the White House, fell from grace and was resurrected as an elder statesman whose popularity rises and falls based on the day’s sound bites. John Gartner’s In Search of Bill Clinton unravels the mystery at the heart of Clinton’s complex nature and, from the fresh viewpoint of a psychologist, questions the well-crafted Clinton life story

Traveling to Arkansas and around the world, Gartner uncovers long-held secrets about Clinton’s wild and seductive mother, Virginia Kelley, the truth surrounding Clinton’s birth, and how Kelley’s character set the tone for Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. He considers Clinton’s two fathers as the root of his self-destructive nature and looks afresh at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to see in her the figure of Edith Cassidy, Clinton’s stern grandmother. Gartner then shows a Clinton reborn from diplomatic triumphs and humanitarianism across the globe. John Gartner’s exhaustive journey provides the richest portrait of Clinton yet, a man who is one of our national obsessions. In Search of Bill Clinton is a surprising and compelling book about a man we all thought we knew.

“Captivating . . . brings real insight—and an investigative journalist’s doggedness—to the subject . . . Gartner exhaustively and engagingly catalogues the psychic twists and turns of Clinton’s childhood.” —New York Post