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Judging books by their covers,
Living History The Clinton Wars According to the publisher, Living History, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s memoirs, promises to give us a personal tour of this powerful, sometimes abrasive politician’s life and thoughts. The cover designer has gone for a little bit of an image makeover: it’s a kindler, gentler Hillary, depicted in a smiling, tasteful photograph. It’s supposed to be authentic, too, as evidenced by the signature at the bottom. Those two things would almost be enough, I think, but the title has to be on there somewhere, and so it is. It’s handwritten, and it may even be in Clinton’s hand, if the signature is actually hers. Never mind what I think of the title itself – it almost put me to sleep, except I almost always have to be laying down to properly fall asleep, so it didn’t ultimately put me to sleep – but having it set in her handwriting kind of clashes with her name. It clashes because it’s a little too different. The H’s are similar enough without being identical, which may mean that the designer tried to approximate her handwriting, but the y’s are totally different, which may mean that the designer failed. If it’s really Clinton’s handwriting, a graphologist would be better suited than I to explain the y discrepancy, but I’d say it reflects some deep-seated desire to have it both ways. But overall the cover is pretty tastefully done, if a little too reserved, given its subject. Boy, and then there’s The Clinton Wars. Everything about this cover screams self-importance: Look, there’s Blumenthal’s name on a gold nameplate, looking like a plaque on the exterior of a major DC building! Look, there’s Blumenthal, giving sage advice to The President of the United States! Look, this thing weighs a million pounds! Then there’s the bizarre title treatment, in which the words get monumentally bigger, as if they’re coming toward the viewer. It suggests that the Clinton wars are approaching, rather than retreating into history as I’d previously assumed. I’m not altogether sure what to make of that. Judgment: No wonder election turnouts are so poor.
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