Samantha Ferrell:

A few weeks ago I rang in the new year - election year - in a particularly unusual way: at Circus Circus, in Reno, Nevada, with the Hillary Clinton campaign team. Invited to witness the inner-workings of a campaign, I spent two days at the Reno campaign headquarters. When word got out that I was still undecided in who I would be voting for, at least half the staff took a break from their passionate phone calls and otherwise uninterrupted twelve hour work day to share with me their testimonial.

Tears filling their eyes, in affirmation of, more than anything else, the hysterics a campaign office can produce, nearly all present directed me towards Hillary's book, Living History. "You have to read this book," one college student said, "then you'll understand. I read it cover to cover - and I don't even read!" Although this statement almost made me even more skeptical, I decided to give it a shot. What I found is a book that is much like Hillary's campaign: full of well-rehearsed platitudes.

Now, don't get me wrong, this is politics and she's a politician - her words are both expected and required to be carefully thought out. Although a book covering a person's entire lifespan, and an accomplished one at that, can hardly be expected to delve into any one topic, the extent of bland lack of explanation or detail in this book is almost shocking. Ms. Clinton doesn't even expand when it's safe to do so, unless it's to provide a celebrity-like list of state dinner attendees or description White House decorations.

The majority of the book is dedicated to her White House years, and though she gives a lengthy account of politics and policies, it is without almost any analysis or substance. Although the book was written before any announced plans to run for president, the lack of critical thinking -- questions or answers as to why her healthcare plan failed for example, gives the reader little insight on her decision making process. Thus, for those already following the Clinton campaign, don't turn to this book looking for new information or insight. The most it can hope to do is to help humanize someone who's biggest criticism is often her cold, calculating lack of charisma. It is more the factual story of her life, however, than her writing (which actually does come off as dull and politically calculated), that proves her sincerity and humanity. An eleven year old does not start a grassroots campaign for the United Way as a scheme for future votes. A thirteen year old investigating voter fraud in Chicago's South Side isn't doing so as a politically calculated move. It is stories such as these, discussed at the beginning of the book in Clinton's pre-White House years, that prove to the reader that beneath the scrupulous facade is someone who really cares and always has. Someone you can believe is passionate about making change, whether or not you agree with the changes she wants to make.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's Living History does for readers what her teary eyed speech on the eve of New Hampshire's primary did for viewers: offers a tiny crack through the diplomatic, stilted, public front, to reveal that somewhere underneath it all is an actual human being who believes in what she is doing and cares about the country she is doing it for.

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