Bill Clinton: New Gilded Age President

by Patrick J. Maney

Overview

Of the original Gilded Age, historian Richard Hofstadter wrote: “There is no other period in the nation’s history when politics seems so completely dwarfed by economic changes, none in which the life of the country rests so completely in the hands of the industrial entrepreneur.” The era of William Jefferson Clinton’s ascent to the presidency was strikingly similar—nothing less, Clinton himself said, than “a paradigm shift . . . from the industrial age to an information-technology age, from the Cold War to a global society.” How Bill Clinton met the challenges of this new Gilded Age is the subject of Patrick J. Maney’s book: an in-depth perspective on the 42nd president of the United States and the transformative era over which he presided.

Bill Clinton: New Gilded Age President goes beyond personality and politics to examine the critical issues of the day: economic and fiscal policy, business and financial deregulation, healthcare and welfare reform, and foreign affairs in a post-Cold War world. But at its heart is Bill Clinton in all his guises: the first baby boomer to reach the White House; the “natural”—the most gifted politician of his generation, but one with an inexplicably careless and self-destructive streak; the “Comeback Kid,” repeatedly overcoming long odds; the survivor, frequently down but never out; and, with Hillary Rodham Clinton, part of the most controversial First Couple since Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Maney’s book is, in sum, the most succinct and up-to-date study of the Clinton presidency, invaluable not merely for understanding a transformative era in American history, but presidential, national, and global politics today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700621941
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	02/15/2016
Pages:	344
Sales rank:	1,142,777
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Patrick J. Maney is professor of history, Boston College. He is the author of The Roosevelt Presence: The Life and Legacy of FDR and Young Bob: A Biography of Robert M. La Follette, Jr.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Bill Clinton and the New Gilded Age 1

1 Making of a President, 1946-1992 9

2 Taking Office, 1993 45

3 "On the Edge," 1993 72

4 Defeat, 1993-1994 89

5 In Search of Three Syllables: Foreign Policy, 1993-1996 116

6 Rebound, 1995-1996 155

7 Siege and Survival, 1997-1999 182

8 The "New" Economy, 1998-2000 210

9 Last Chance: Clinton and the World, 1998-2000 237

Epilogue: The Third Term 261

Notes 275

Bibliographical Essay 305

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

"An outstanding study that places a recent White House occupant in illuminating historical context. . . . Anyone seeking to understand the late twentieth-century Clinton presidency can do no better than than consult this fine volume."--Journal of American History

"A useful starting point for understanding this protean US politician's White House years."--Choice


"An exceptionally well-written and concise biography of Bill Clinton. Maney offers penetrating insights about both the complexity of Clinton's personality and Washington politics during the so-called 'New Gilded Age'."--Burton Kaufman, author of The Post-Presidency from Washington to Clinton

"It's a tall order to place a recent president in historical perspective, but Patrick Maney succeeds brilliantly in his analysis of Bill Clinton and the ideological, financial, and technological developments that swirled about him and defined his era." --Donald A. Ritchie, author of Electing FDR: The New Deal of Campaign of 1932

"This is a truly remarkable book. Patrick Maney gives us a penetrating, comprehensive, and thoroughly balanced account of the Clinton presidency, along with a shrewd, insightful assessment of the character of this fascinating and often infuriating denizen of the White House. This book will stand as the gold standard of works on this man and his era."--John Milton Cooper, Jr., author of Woodrow Wilson: A Biography

"Patrick J. Maney's Bill Clinton is an engagingly written account of a consequential presidency. Maney's discussion of Clinton's domestic, economic, and foreign policies is especially illuminating."--Michael Nelson, author of Governing at Home: The White House and Domestic Policymaking

From the Publisher