©1996, ProMotion, inc.
www@bookpage.com
Readers of Between Hope and History should not be disappointed, however. The book, written with William E. Nothdurft, a Seattle consultant who co-authored a book with Vice President Al Gore, succeeds in its intention to underscore the President's purposes as a moderate Democrat and to blur the line between him and the liberal wing of his party.
Between Hope and History also places the author in his context as the 42nd president of the United States, and cites his accomplishments, his values, and his beliefs about governing America. As literature, the best the book has to offer is the introductory verse by Irish Nobel poet laureate Seamus Heaney, from which the book's title apparently is taken.
As a campaign document in an election year, Between Hope and History sweeps Bill Clinton from Hope, Arkansas, into the ranks of the Democrat Party's pantheon of heroes. As such, it has the potential to be a good seller -- between now and November 5.
His vision has three components -- as does his strategy and his solution for America's problems. Not surprising, these three components also are the titles of the book's three chapters: opportunity, responsibility, and community. And the greatest of these is apparently responsibility.
Between Hope and History intones the accomplishments of Clinton's nearly four years in the White House and raises high his hope to lead America for another four years. Its high points ring out like the exhortations of a Southern Baptist preacher who is determined to hold the faithful in his flock.
Between Hope and History is Bill Clinton, the politician, at his feel-good best, determined to deliver his party's faithful, and anyone else who will come along, to victory in November.
Marsha Vande Berg is a journalist in San Francisco.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.