Stephen Labaton
Written in an inviting style that resonates with McDougal's folksiness... -- New York Times Book Review
Lars-Erik Nelson
McDougal's autobiography, Arkansas Mischief, written with Curtis Wilkie, has precisely the same effect as his courtroom testimony. . .McDougal seems a harmless, colorful Southern wheeler dealer. . .spouting quotations from Winston Churchill and the classics. But when protrayed in his own words, he is a self-serving, self-pitying conniver who preyed on others and yet sees himself as a victim.
— The New York Review of Books
Library Journal
McDougal, self-described political mentor of President Clinton, died recently of cardiac failure in prison at age 57, while serving a sentence for his "creative financing" activities as manager of the Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan that funded the Whitewater real estate project. Although he suffered from alcoholism and depression, had two failed marriages, and died impoverished, McDougal emerges as a less-than-sympathetic wheeler-dealer who lost at the high-stakes games he played. He admits wrongdoing, but blames a vengeful Republican congressman for the harsh treatment his savings and loan received from federal bank examiners. Much of the book is spent portraying Arkansas's distinctive political/business environment, an unsavory saga much better told in Roger Morris's Partners in Power (LJ 8/96). McDougal claims Whitewater was a business deal in which the Clinton's did nothing wrong, but they perjured themselves afterward in federal testimony. Although he remembers Bill as a one-time friend, McDougal deplores Clinton's reputed affair with Susan, McDougal's former wife, and unleashes most of his contempt on Hillary for her alleged financial dealings at McDougal's expense. Although a "yellow dog" Democrat, McDougal offered to testify against the Clintons in the Whitewater investigation--an offer eagerly accepted. An optional purchase for public libraries.--Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Lars-Erik Nelson
McDougal's autobiography, Arkansas Mischief, written with Curtis Wilkie, has precisely the same effect as his courtroom testimony. . .McDougal seems a harmless, colorful Southern wheeler dealer. . .spouting quotations from Winston Churchill and the classics. But when protrayed in his own words, he is a self-serving, self-pitying conniver who preyed on others and yet sees himself as a victim. -- The New York Review of Books
