What Happened

by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Overview

A TIME MAGAZINE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR AND NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

“In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net. Now I’m letting my guard down.” —Hillary Rodham Clinton, from the introduction of What Happened

For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. This is her most personal memoir yet.

In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward. With humor and candor, she tells readers what it took to get back on her feet—the rituals, relationships, and reading that got her through, and what the experience has taught her about life. She speaks about the challenges of being a strong woman in the public eye, the criticism over her voice, age, and appearance, and the double standard confronting women in politics.

She lays out how the 2016 election was marked by an unprecedented assault on our democracy by a foreign adversary. By analyzing the evidence and connecting the dots, Hillary shows just how dangerous the forces are that shaped the outcome, and why Americans need to understand them to protect our values and our democracy in the future.

The election of 2016 was unprecedented and historic. What Happened is the story of that campaign and its aftermath—both a deeply intimate account and a cautionary tale for the nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501175565
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	09/12/2017
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	262,168
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first woman in US history to become the presidential nominee of a major political party. She served as the 67th Secretary of State—from January 21, 2009, until February 1, 2013—after nearly four decades in public service advocating on behalf of children and families as an attorney, First Lady, and Senator. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother.

Editorial Reviews

09/18/2017
The 2016 Democratic presidential contender indicts everyone responsible for her stunning defeat in this rancorous memoir. Clinton names many culprits: FBI director James Comey, whose late-October resurrection of the investigation of Clinton's emails sent her poll numbers tumbling; Russia's computer hackers and anti-Clinton fake news and social media operators; Green Party candidate Jill Stein for skimming off left-leaning voters in key states; the press for harping on her minor transgressions while downplaying her opponent's scandals; and American voters for choosing tweeted anger over sensible platforms. Clinton's retelling of the race often reads like campaign literature, with glossy montages of policy proposals, inspirational portraits of herself as an icon of women's empowerment, and cameos from supporters like "Kristin in Dearborn" and "Katy from Bellevue." Clinton's campaign narrative is often riveting—her portrayal of Trump's sinister physical demeanor in debates is a gem ("Now we were on a small stage, and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces")—but her sense of entitlement clouds her analysis, and she doesn't grapple with the appeal of his message on issues of immigration and trade. The lack of serious reflection on how her own campaign and proposals might have fallen short makes the book a telling epitaph for Clinton's campaign. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

What Happened is not one book, but many. It is a candid and blackly funny account of her mood in the direct aftermath of losing to Donald J. Trump. It is a post-mortem, in which she is both coroner and corpse. It is a feminist manifesto. It is a score-settling jubilee.... It is worth reading.”
—The New York Times

“What Happened is a raw and bracing book, a guide to our political arena.”
—The Washington Post

“The writing in What Happened is engaging — Clinton is charming and even funny at times, without trying to paint herself in too flattering of a light.... Ultimately, the book might be a historical artifact most of all — the chronicling of what, exactly, it was like to run for president as the first woman major-party candidate (and, yes, a Clinton as well). Plenty may disagree with Clinton’s opinions on what went wrong for her, but her story will still be an important part of that history when America looks back on the melee that was the 2016 election.”
—NPR

“An engaging, beautifully synthesized page-turner.”
—Slate

“Here is Clinton at her most emotionally raw.... While What Happened records the perspective of a pioneer who beat an unprecedented path that stopped just shy of the White House, it also covers territory that many women will recognize.... She demonstrates that she can mine her situation for humor.”
—People

“A disturbing autopsy on the state of America today. What Happened is an urgent plea directed not only to those concerned about America’s capacity to survive, but also to all who are anxious about protecting America’s international contributions to human health.”
—The Lancet

“What Happened is not a standard work of this genre. It’s interesting; it’s worth reading; and it sets out questions that the press, in particular, has not done enough to face.”
—The Atlantic

“The most useful way to read What Happened is as one last instance of Clinton doing what she calls her civic duty.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Contains... insights into Ms. Clinton’s personality, character, and values, and the challenges confronting women in politics.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“This is an important book, and anyone who’s worried by what happened last November 8 should pick it up.”
—Entertainment Weekly

From the Publisher

2017-09-18
Gracious, sometimes-wonkish post-mortem of the last presidential election by its surprise loser, who still can't quite believe…well, what happened."I ran for President because I thought I'd be good at the job," writes Clinton (Hard Choices, 2014, etc.), modestly. She adds, a touch less demurely, "I thought that of all the people who might run, I had the most relevant experience, meaningful accomplishments, and ambitious but achievable proposals, as well as the temperament to get things done in Washington." Against her was arrayed a field of Republican candidates that included the one no one took seriously—but also, as the author notes in a reckoning that is remarkably measured, a whole cultural and political field of opponents, including Russian hackers and a grudge-bearing Vladimir Putin, the crew of WikiLeaks, Bernie Sanders and his devout followers, misogyny, and a few missteps that, refreshingly, Clinton's not shy about owning up to. (One takeaway: don't campaign with pneumonia. Take a day off.) Of the many enemies, writes the author, misogyny was likely the most intractable, even given James Comey, the screams about emails, voter suppression, and Donald Trump's hammering away about "lying Hillary," to say nothing about looming behind her creepily in debate. Mostly, Clinton campaigned against anger, and she could never quite get a handle on how to reckon with it. Pundits have since insisted that Clinton should have spoken more from the heart and been less managed, which isn't really how politics is done—well, until Trump came along and opened the door to a post-truth America. Of all the upshots, that truth business seems to be what bothers Clinton most, but mostly she's understandably amazed, as are so many, to have gone to bed in one America and awoken in another: "I picture future historians scratching their heads, trying to understand what happened. I'm still scratching mine, too." A touch too reserved and polite, given the circumstances, and in need of supplementing by hard-edged books like Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes' Shattered. Still, a useful book to read—and, for many, to mourn over.

Kirkus Reviews

10/02/2017
In the audio edition of her 2016 presidential campaign retrospective, Clinton sounds like Clinton: a strong, tough, smart, experienced woman. She’s a little wobbly-voiced in the introduction, deeply concerned that people won’t want to hear what happened, “especially from me,” she states. But she quickly finds her clear, collected tone and rhythm, sounding slightly more relaxed and conversional than she usually is in speeches and interviews. She is emotionally composed even when describing her fury at Trump, at FBI director James Comey, at Senator Bernie Sanders, at the media. At one point in the book, she even says, “I wear my composure like a suit of armor—for better or for worse.” Thus the drama is not so much in her reading as in the descriptions of her intellectual and emotional responses to events such as when Comey reopened the investigation into her email days before the election, the instant she learned she lost the election, or Trump’s inauguration. The one jarring aspect of the audio is her long pronunciation of the indefinite article a, constantly interrupting the flow of her normal speech. It’s Clinton’s most personal book yet; hearing it read in her own voice further reminds listeners of the person behind the politician. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Audio

What Happened is not one book, but many. It is a candid and blackly funny account of her mood in the direct aftermath of losing to Donald J. Trump. It is a post-mortem, in which she is both coroner and corpse. It is a feminist manifesto. It is a score-settling jubilee.... It is worth reading.”
—The New York Times

“What Happened is a raw and bracing book, a guide to our political arena.”
—The Washington Post

“The writing in What Happened is engaging — Clinton is charming and even funny at times, without trying to paint herself in too flattering of a light.... Ultimately, the book might be a historical artifact most of all — the chronicling of what, exactly, it was like to run for president as the first woman major-party candidate (and, yes, a Clinton as well). Plenty may disagree with Clinton’s opinions on what went wrong for her, but her story will still be an important part of that history when America looks back on the melee that was the 2016 election.”
—NPR

“An engaging, beautifully synthesized page-turner.”
—Slate

“Here is Clinton at her most emotionally raw.... While What Happened records the perspective of a pioneer who beat an unprecedented path that stopped just shy of the White House, it also covers territory that many women will recognize.... She demonstrates that she can mine her situation for humor.”
—People

“Contains... insights into Ms. Clinton’s personality, character, and values, and the challenges confronting women in politics.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“What Happened is not a standard work of this genre. It’s interesting; it’s worth reading; and it sets out questions that the press, in particular, has not done enough to face.”
—The Atlantic

“The most useful way to read What Happened is as one last instance of Clinton doing what she calls her civic duty.”
—Los Angeles Times

“This is an important book, and anyone who’s worried by what happened last November 8 should pick it up.”
—Entertainment Weekly

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY