Things I will love until my dying day: Hillary Clinton, personal essays, personal essays written by Hillary Clinton…
My day just got a whole lot brighter with the announcement that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be releasing a book of essays later this year. The essays will tell stories from her life (plus reflections for the future) based around a collection of her favorite quotes, according to an announcement by Simon & Schuster. The stories will include, the company was sure to note, “experiences in the 2016 presidential campaign.” Get ready for some epic shade.
I’m not sure what this Hillary fangirl is more excited for: hearing the stories or finding out Hillary Clinton’s favorite quotes are.
“These are the words I live by,” said HRC. “These quotes have helped me celebrate the good times, laugh at the absurd times, persevere during the hard times and deepen my appreciation of all life has to offer. I hope by sharing these words and my thoughts about them, the essays will be meaningful for readers.”
Funny that, that’s exactly what this quote does for me:
It’s unusual with a book announcement that the publisher’s name should be as relevant to the conversation as Simon & Schuster’s, but they have been making headlines lately for all the wrong reasons. They are facing heated criticism for striking a book deal with offensive alt-right figure Milo Yiannopoulos; Leslie Jones, one his biggest victims, has spoken out against them, and Roxane Gay has already pulled her book, which they were due to publish. Many are already criticizing Clinton, whose five previous books were put out by Simon & Schuster, for continuing to publish with them. But it seems she has been discussing this idea with them for over 20 years. “We are honored to continue our long and successful publishing relationship with Hillary Rodham Clinton,” said President and CEO Carolyn Reidy. “We first began talking about this collection of quotations in our first meeting in 1994.”
Simon & Schuster is a divisive topic, but not nearly as divisive as Secretary Clinton. There’s no doubt the book will produce a whole new round of debate on this admired, despised, passion-inducing woman. Many of us will go into reading it with our own biases and preconceived ideas, or not read it at all because of those very biases and preconceived ideas; some (including those who think Clinton is a devil-worshipping, power-hungry, corrupt Freemason) will use her words to initiate a fresh new wave of criticism against her, while others (myself included) may be at risk of swallowing it all blindly. In these extremely partisan times, it’s important we all try to read these things with at least an attempt at an objective eye.
The publisher also announced at the same time that it will be releasing Clinton’s book as First Lady, It Takes a Village, as a children’s picture book, illustrated by Marla Frazee. It Takes a Village, titled after the well-known phrase (which we can probably assume is on Hillary Clinton’s list of favorite quotes), is about the impact groups and individuals outside the family have on a children’s wellbeing. The picture book will aim to “bring this inspiring message to a new generation in a format that is perfect for story time and bedtime.”
Top image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore
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