She was the presumptive favorite in the 2016 US presidential election. She was also extremely qualified when compared to her inexperienced opponent. Yet, against all odds, she managed to lose to a divisive candidate who won in one of the most astounding victories in American political history. On the night of Nov. 8, 2016, when the results started pouring in, surprise gave way to astonishment as everyone asked the same question: What Happened to Hillary Rodham Clinton?
Everyone seems to have a theory as to why she failed to become the first woman president of the US. But what was going through her mind during that incredible election night? For the first time, Clinton looks back on the election in her book “What Happened.” She tells her side of the story with humor and sincerity and this poignant memoir will interest both her supporters and her detractors.
Clinton never imagined she write a book about the shocking loss, however, it is not a comprehensive account of the 2016 race as “that’s not for me to write, I have too little distance and too great a stake in it,” she writes.
She has chosen to focus on moments from the campaign, on people who inspired her and on the major challenges she has tackled during her nearly four decades in public service.
Despite the broad focus, it is natural that readers will wonder how she felt on the night of the election. Clinton, accompanied by her family and senior staff members, were staying at The Peninsula hotel, just a block away from Trump Tower. “The waiting was excruciating,” she admits. So, she decided to take a nap hoping that when she woke up, things would look better. When she got up, the atmosphere in her suite on the top floor was even gloomier and as the hours went by, the numbers were not getting any better.
“How had this happened? All our models, as well as all the public polls and predictions, gave us an excellent chance at victory. Now it was slipping away. I felt shell-shocked. I hadn’t prepared mentally for this at all. There had been no doomsday scenarios playing out in my head in the final days, no imagining what I might say if I lost. I just didn’t think about it. But now it was real as could be and I was struggling to get my head around it. It was like all the air in the room had been sucked and I could barely breathe.”
She gave her concession speech in a grey-and-purple suit that she intended to wear on her first trip to Washington as president elect. This is one of the many details that shows how Clinton was absolutely not prepared to lose. All her plans revolved around her victory.
Clinton spent the first day after her defeat following these dramatic events and doing very little else. She could not handle people’s kindness, sorrow and bewilderment and their explanations for how she had failed. “Bill and I kept the rest of the world out. I was grateful for the one billionth time that I had a husband who was good company, not just in happy times, but sad ones as well.” The next day, she finally reconnected with people, answering an avalanche of emails and returning phone calls.
Afterwards, she writes, she spent long hours walking with her husband and talking again and again about the unforeseeable loss. She also learned how to be grateful for the hard things. “My task was to be grateful for the humbling experience of losing the presidential election. Humility can be such a painful virtue.”
President Barack Obama played a key role in Clinton’s decision to run for president. He was well aware that his legacy depended, to a large extent, on a Democratic victory in 2016. “He made it clear that he believed that I was our party’s best chance to hold the White House and keep our progress going and he wanted me to move quickly to prepare to run.”
Clinton announced her candidacy in June 2015 and, amidst all the positive comments she received after her speech, she hardly paid attention to American journalist E.J. Dionne’s sharp remark: “Hillary Clinton is making a bet and issuing a challenge. The bet is that voters will pay more attention to what she can do for them than to what her opponents will say about her.”
We all now know that Clinton lost the white working-class vote, Trump garnered their attention with populist rhetoric and an excellent slogan — “Make America Great Again.”
Although Clinton dreams of a future in which women in the public eye will not be judged for how they look but for what they do, when she was campaigning, she always made time for her make-up and to have her hair done. “The few times I’ve gone out in public without makeup, it’s made the news,” she wrote in the book. Clinton even calculated how many hours it took her to have her hair and make-up done during the campaign. It came to 600 hours, which is equivalent to 25 days.
Clinton shares personal details in the book, for example, she tells readers that whenever she was traveling, she never went to sleep without calling her husband. These conversations kept her “grounded and at peace,” she writes, adding: “He’s funny, friendly, unflappable in the face of mishaps and inconveniences and easily delighted by the world…He is fabulous company.”
This book shows Clinton as we have never seen her before — vulnerable, forgiving and humble.
It leaves us all wondering, what will happen next?
Book Review: Hillary Clinton in her own words
Book Review: Hillary Clinton in her own words
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Planetary Climates’ by Andrew Ingersoll
This concise, sophisticated introduction to planetary climates explains the global physical and chemical processes that determine climate on any planet or major planetary satellite— from Mercury to Neptune and even large moons such as Saturn’s Titan.
Although the climates of other worlds are extremely diverse, the chemical and physical processes that shape their dynamics are the same.
As this book makes clear, the better we can understand how various planetary climates formed and evolved, the better we can understand Earth’s climate history and future.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Dragonflies of North America’
- “Dragonflies of North America” is the ultimate guide to these extraordinary insects
Author: ED LAM
Dragonflies are large and beautiful insects, diverse in color and pattern. This premier field guide provides all the information you need to identify every male and female dragonfly found in North America, whether in the field, in the hand, or under the microscope.
The extensive illustrations are the heart of the book. Close-up color portraits of each species, often several times life size, show the best possible specimens for close examination.
“Dragonflies of North America” is the ultimate guide to these extraordinary insects.
What We Are Reading Today: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
- Murakami’s prose, understated yet richly evocative, guides readers through a narrative that oscillates between the real and the surreal
Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” is an intricate, mesmerizing novel that weaves together the ordinary and the surreal, creating a tapestry of existential questions, hidden truths and unexpected journeys.
First published in 1994, the novel is often regarded as one of Murakami’s masterpieces, encapsulating his signature blend of magical realism, psychological depth, and cultural introspection.
At its heart is Toru Okada, an unassuming and somewhat disaffected man whose mundane life takes a sudden and dramatic turn when his wife, Kumiko, disappears. What begins as a straightforward search evolves into a labyrinthine journey, leading Toru to confront not only the mystery of Kumiko’s absence but also the darker forces of history, memory, and his own psyche.
Along the way, he encounters an eclectic cast of characters, each with their own enigmatic role to play in the unfolding story.
Murakami’s prose, understated yet richly evocative, guides readers through a narrative that oscillates between the real and the surreal. The novel’s structure mirrors this duality, as Toru navigates his increasingly strange reality while descending into dreamlike underworlds, mysterious wells, and symbolic landscapes.
These moments are imbued with Murakami’s distinctive sense of unease, where the boundaries of the tangible and intangible blur, leaving the reader questioning the nature of reality itself.
One of the novel’s great strengths is its ability to juxtapose the deeply personal with the historically and culturally significant.
While Toru’s story is intimate and introspective, it is interwoven with threads of Japanese history, particularly the atrocities of the Second World War. These historical narratives, told through the recollections of various characters, deepen the novel’s scope, turning it into a meditation on the lingering wounds of the past and their impact on the present.
“The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” also delves into themes of connection and alienation, power and vulnerability, and the search for meaning in a world that often feels inexplicable. Toru’s journey is not just a physical quest but a spiritual and emotional odyssey, forcing him to confront the unseen forces that shape his life and the lives of those around him.
Murakami’s use of symbolism and recurring motifs — cats, wells, and the titular wind-up bird — adds layers of mystery and interpretive richness to the novel. These elements, coupled with the novel’s nonlinear structure and surreal interludes, create a reading experience that is both immersive and disorienting, drawing readers into a world that is as unsettling as it is beautiful.
For longtime fans of Murakami, “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” is quintessential, showcasing the author’s ability to blend the banal with the extraordinary. For new readers, it offers an expansive introduction to his universe, though its complexity may require patience and reflection.
Ultimately, “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” is a profound exploration of the human condition — its mysteries, its contradictions, and its quiet beauty. It is a novel that refuses to offer easy answers, instead inviting readers to embrace its ambiguities and immerse themselves in its layered, dreamlike world. Murakami has crafted a story that is as haunting as it is enlightening, leaving an indelible mark on those who dare to journey into its depths.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Galápagos’
Authors: John Kricher and Kevin Loughlin
Galápagos is a comprehensive, up-to-date, and profusely illustrated natural history of this spectacular archipelago.
Offering much more information than identification guides, the book provides detailed accounts and more than 650 color photographs of the islands’ habitats, marine life, reptiles, birds, mammals, and plants, making the book a virtual nature tour of Galápagos.
Galápagos experts John Kricher and Kevin Loughlin have thoroughly revised the original text, bringing all the taxonomy up to date and adding a wealth of new information.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘A Well-Ordered Thing’ by Michael D. Gordon
Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834–1907) is a name we recognize, but perhaps only as the creator of the periodic table of elements.
Generally, little else has been known about him. “A Well-Ordered Thing” is an authoritative biography of Mendeleev that draws a multifaceted portrait of his life for the first time.
As Michael Gordin reveals, Mendeleev was not only a luminary in the history of science, he was also an astonishingly wide-ranging political and cultural figure.
