Books in Brief

Letters from Al, from national review (Andrews and McMeel, 75 pp., $5.95)

HISTORIANS may someday turn to Bob Woodward’s The Agenda for the definitive account of the Clinton Administration’s first zany year. Fine—but they will be seriously misled if they do not simultaneously consult this just-released collection of national review’s “Letters from Al,” which, unlike Mr. Woodward’s accumulation of mere detail, reveals essences. Here we see our Vice President in all his oaken glory, along with the scheming Tipper, the omnicompetent Dr. Gergen, the elfin George S., and the imperial HRC with her perpetual PMS. Our President, of course, is most often glimpsed at table. Our Vice President may be obtuse, but his literary gifts, as evidenced in these letters to his rainforest pal Rusty, cannot be underestimated. No student of the Clinton Administration will want to be without them, though sometimes more questions are raised than answered. Why did Donna Shalala and Molly Ivins want to take the Gore girls on that wilderness rafting trip?

About the Author

Andrew Ferguson

Andrew Ferguson, a former columnist for NR, is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

MB

About the Author

Matthew Berke

RS

About the Author

Richard Samuelson

Richard Samuelson is an associate professor of history at California State University, San Bernardino.

Letters from Al, from national review (Andrews and McMeel, 75 pp., $5.95)

HISTORIANS may someday turn to Bob Woodward’s The Agenda for the definitive account of the Clinton Administration’s first zany year. Fine—but they will be seriously misled if they do not simultaneously consult this just-released collection of national review’s “Letters from Al,” which, unlike Mr. Woodward’s accumulation of mere detail, reveals essences. Here we see our Vice President in all his oaken glory, along with the scheming Tipper, the omnicompetent Dr. Gergen, the elfin George S., and the imperial HRC with her perpetual PMS. Our President, of course, is most often glimpsed at table. Our Vice President may be obtuse, but his literary gifts, as evidenced in these letters to his rainforest pal Rusty, cannot be underestimated. No student of the Clinton Administration will want to be without them, though sometimes more questions are raised than answered. Why did Donna Shalala and Molly Ivins want to take the Gore girls on that wilderness rafting trip?