Customer Rating: 
Summary: Skip the advice from the people who haven't read the book!
Comment: Try reading this book--if you are not one of the people with an axe to grind, such as the operatives
it describes, you will be impressed by its seriousness and documented evidence--(IMAGINE! ). If you
can start the book, and then put it down, you have more will power than I do.
This book is both
intelligently written and argued, PLUS it's honest, since the author discloses his background from
the very beginning, something the right wing characters and loonies are loathe to do.
The story
is presented in the form of a coherent and serious analysis of the behavior of the actors involved
in a constitutional crisis in the United States in which few heroes made any appearance. The
explanation of how it happened is developed in the context of broader social and political trends
and significant events of the period.
Though, given the subject, it is not surprising that
there is information in the book of a private and personal nature about several of the players,
details of a "gossipy" nature are not revealed just for the purpose of telling--they support
arguments, contentions, or explanations of motivation. They are also documented appropriately,
giving sources (as well as the author's view on the reliability of those sources). Nothing is just
hinted at--it's spelled out clearly with conclusions and accusations made--this author takes
responsibility for his words--an admirable, and rare trait, particularly among those who have
written about this "drama".
Additionally, it is clear that this author read the transcripts and
listened to the tapes, and he delivers--what were at least for me--some bombshells! Talk about
the issue of "character"--when you read some of the stuff the Clinton opponents were guilty of
according to their own words on tape, I guarantee it will curl your toes.
I am a liberal
Democrat, and proud of it, and I thought I believed the worst possible about the cast of
characters lined up against Clinton (whose sleaziness I don't deny, but hasn't threatened my
Democratic rights, nor those of the women he seduced or seduced him, as far as I can see).
However, I never even imagined the depths of pulchritude of which the people who hated him were
capable.
This book makes my old opinion of Linda Tripp look naive--and I have never thought of
a positive thing to say about her. She gives a new meaning to the word HAG. Her manipulations are
so much worse than I ever imagined, I tremble to think of what must motivate someone to meddle so
shamelessly in the lives of others.
Further, despite the tone of the author's remarks about
Monica Lewinsky (mentioned in the above reviews), for the first time I really feel incredibly sorry
for "that woman". In the past I always thought she was just a dipsy doodle who was old enough to
know what she was doing, as far as Clinton was concerned. But after seeing what Linda Tripp did to
her, I have to feel compassion for what was done to her life. Most women have a story where they
acted foolishly somewhere in the history of their love lives (most men, too!) And few of us would
delight in having our youthful indiscretions broadcast for prime time (except of course if you
happen to have been 47 when they occurred, and you are a hypocrite who deserves it). But how many
people found themselves, as a result, hoisted on a national media stage, manipulated by the
cupidity, selfishness and narcissism of a two-bit bee with an itch like Linda Tripp? Someone who
didn't even get the thrill of great sex out of her betrayal, but whose jealousy and mean
spiritedness was translated into betrayal of the highest order. Motivated by the opportunity for
her pathetic 15 minutes of fame and a big bucks book contract, she was willing to sell this young
woman's life and privacy down the river--!
If Linda Tripp thought Monica Lewinsky was so in need
of protection, why did she victimize her, make a public spectacle of her, and sell her to the
wolves? Tripp takes the word betrayal into a new realm, making the dramas of trailer trash look
like the lives of Junior League charity workers.
And stupid? Did she think when she made
those tapes of her conversations with Monica Lewinsky that people would only hear what Monica
Lewinsky said? Didn't she realize her own TOTAL and COMPLETE lack of anything resembling
character would be revealed for all eternity? No wonder she had plastic surgery, she must need the
equivalent of the Federal Protection Program to find a community that would want her to live
there!
Then there's the noble tale of Michael Isikoff--the man ought to be sentenced to permanent
duty on the National Enquirer. What a sleaze--talk about people in glass houses! Where did this
guy learn his journalistic ethics--or lack thereof?
If you thought you were frightened by the
right wing fanatics before--wait until you get a load of these details. Not surprisingly, like
Newt Gingrich, some of the loonies started out as left wing loonies and then flipped
over--revealing the eternal truth, "a loonie is a loonie is a loonie".
This account is a serious
indictment of the players on all sides, and the abuse of the American people and our right to elect
any idiot or any sleazebucket we please(not one George Bush, but TWO? )Even the general stupidity
we evidence in our political choices does not justify an entrapment in which sordid B-drama level
players like Linda Tripp and Luciane Goldberg play roles far beyond their level of character or
importance in an attempt to force a duly elected president out of office.
Understanding this
story should be an obligation of citizenship--I never imagined how vulnerable we were to people
motivated purely by hate.
Customer Rating: Summary: AWESOME
Comment: This book is spellbinding and difficult to put down. Toobin plays no favorites as he details the
forces that brought this scenario together. Tripp and Goldberg send shivers down your spine as they
conspire to expose Clinton and compete to write books. MacMillian-Carpenter is devious and her
manipulations of Paula Jones to prevent a settlement are mind boggling. Clinton's documented bald
face lies at his deposition directly in the presence of a Federal Judge (who seems to be the only
decent person involved) are amazing. To top if off the people in the OIC are straight out of
Kafka. An excellent book!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Read and think for yourself
Comment: It should be noted that many of the people who have commented on the book below have not read it,
and have commented on it presupposing that Toobin is adamantly pro-Clinton (as if this were a kind
of counterpart, from the other ideological end of the spectrum, from Barabara Olsen's HELL TO PAY).
This is not true; Toobin has little positive to say about the President or the First lady or their
staffs. The book is very critical of Clinton, but sees Clinton as not nearly as corrupt nor as
dangerous as Starr and his team of prosecutors.
Much was expected from this book, and in terms of
backstage details it has much to offer. Given Toobin's legal background it seems hardly surprising
that the book analyzes the proceedings largely from a legalistic point of view--but this is both
the book's strength and its weakness. We lose much of the political ramififcations for the actions
and decisions of Starr and his team and of the White House; simultaneously, episodes begging for
more in-depth discussion of the human beings crushed between the opposing sides are left somewhat
skimpy. (If ever a scene begged for more pathos or drama, it's Marcia lewis's breakdown on the
stand--yet Toobin hardly dramatizes it at all.) It's a fine book, and is balanced enough to be
useful reading for people on both sides of the debate.
Customer Rating: Summary: Whitewater Whitewash
Comment: If you're a fan of President Clinton, you'll love " Vast Conspiracy ". If you're interested only in
the facts behind Clinton's impeachment, you may want to save a lot of time and just read Bob
Woodward's " Shadow" which does a much better job without wasting a lot of your time.
Toobin
deplores the focus on sex in the Monica Lewinsky affair and criticizes Ken Starr and Rep. Bob
McCollum's presentation of the case before the Senate, but can't resist the temptation to tell you
much more than you ever wanted to know about the personal lives of Paula Jones, Lucienne Goldberg,
and others. While he has little good to say about anyone,he goes easiest on the President. In
fact, Toobin could easily be accused of ghostwriting the book for the President by a person more
cynical than me. Unless you're interested in Paula Jone's graphic description of the President's
anatomy, ( which is available all over the internet for free) there is little new in this book.
Toobin took the opportunity to slam other journalists and seems willing to repeat rumors if
they've been printed in at least one other source. Save your money, and save your time.
