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''Hard Choices'' is a
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...
of former
United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's C ...
Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...
, published by
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
in 2014, giving her account of her tenure in that position from 2009 to 2013. It also discusses some personal aspects of her life and career, including her feelings towards President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
following her 2008 presidential campaign loss to him. It is generally supportive of decisions made by the
Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 44th president of the United States began with First inauguration of Barack Obama, his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democratic Pa ...
. The book was promoted partly in light of the possibility of a Clinton bid in the 2016 presidential election (in which, two years after the release of the book, she would go on to win the Democratic nomination and then lose to
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
in the
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
). Excerpts from the book were released in advance of its publication. Clinton staged an extensive promotional tour for the book, which had the air of a political campaign with groups both for and against her appearing at book-signing events. ''Hard Choices'' reached #1 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List, but sold considerably less than her 2003 memoir, ''
Living History Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...
''. Interpreting what sales of the book meant for her possible political future became a subject for discussion among interested parties.


Conception and development

Clinton's last day as Secretary of State was February 1, 2013. As she departed from office, she indicated she was unsure of her future plans but that they did include writing another memoir to follow ''
Living History Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...
''. On April 4, 2013,
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
, her previous publisher, announced that Clinton had signed with them for this new work, with a target publication date of June 2014. Lawyer Robert Barnett handled the negotiations from Clinton's side; the financial terms of any advance or royalties were not publicly disclosed. The ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...
'' reported "industry speculation" as saying that her advance could be as high as $14 million. Although not confirmed, that figure has been repeated by some other news sources. From the beginning, the book was partly seen in the light of a possible Clinton bid for the 2016 presidential election. Clinton was assisted in writing the book by three aides credited in the Acknowledgements section as her "book team", two former State Department assistants, speechwriter Dan Schwerin and researcher Ethan Gelber, and Ted Widmer, a speechwriter in the Bill Clinton administration. The first draft of the manuscript was three times its final length. Clinton later said that the writing process had been "terrific" overall, but that "some days were off-the-charts wonderful and some days were not-even-on-the-charts terrible." During April 2014, the official publication date of the book was announced as June 10, 2014, and the title of the book was revealed as ''Hard Choices'' about a week later.


Themes of the book

The book contained 635 pages of numbered text, accompanied by three sections of plates containing a total of 100 colored photographs. In the book, Clinton frames the foreign policy situations encountered during her tenure as a series of hard choices, especially those involving the Middle East and the
Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econom ...
, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Russia. Special attention is given to the
Egyptian Revolution of 2011 The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...
and her relations with Egyptian President and longtime personal friend
Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
. Clinton sometimes delves into disagreements within the
Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 44th president of the United States began with First inauguration of Barack Obama, his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democratic Pa ...
and where she stood, such as her losing the argument to arm moderate elements of the
Syrian opposition The Syrian opposition ( ar, المعارضة السورية ', ) is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian govern ...
. In many other cases, however, she does not, saying such discussions "will remain private to honor the code of confidentiality that should exist between a president and his Secretary of State, especially while he is still in office." A chapter of the book dealing with the
2012 Benghazi attack The 2012 Benghazi attack was a coordinated attack against two United States government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, by members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia. On September 11, 2012, at 9:40 pm local time, members of Ansar ...
– in which the U.S.
diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
in
Benghazi, Libya Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη ('' Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghaz ...
, was attacked, resulting in the deaths of the U.S. ambassador to that country,
J. Christopher Stevens John Christopher Stevens (April 18, 1960 – September 11, 2012) was an American career diplomat and lawyer who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Libya from May 22, 2012, to September 11, 2012. Stevens was killed when the U.S. Special Missio ...
, and three other Americans – was leaked to ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
''. It reiterates the explanations for what happened that Clinton and her supporters had previously made. Clinton also delves into some personal aspects of her life and career, including getting past any hard feelings towards Obama from her 2008 presidential campaign, events in her family including her daughter
Chelsea Clinton Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer and global health advocate. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ...
's wedding, and glimpses of personal interaction with citizens of other countries during her travels as secretary. The book also addresses the disappointment of her 2008 loss, and for the first time fully recants her 2002 vote on the
Iraq War Resolution The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, The book concludes with some general thoughts about her visions for America going forward, but it shed no light on whether she would run for president in 2016, saying only, " e time for another hard choice will come soon."


Promotional efforts

Excerpts of the books came out early. The first was in early May 2014, when '' Vogue'' published an excerpt in celebration of
Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the ...
that was about and dedicated to Clinton's mother Dorothy Rodham, who had died during Clinton's time as secretary. Simon & Schuster released an Author's Note explaining some of Clinton's perspectives on the book. A video appeared on the book's
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page the following day. A cover appearance on ''
People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of propert ...
'' magazine was also made to promote the book. Later, the chapter of the book dealing with the Benghazi attack was leaked to ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
''. Observers suspected this was done to get news about it out of the way early so it would not dominate later coverage of the book as a whole. Shortly before the book's publication date, a passage that dealt with the now-repatriated soldier Bowe Bergdahl was made public as well. The promotional book roll-out was staffed by veterans of political campaigns and political communications efforts, rather than the publicists who usually conduct such efforts. There was competition among top news anchors and interviewers to get the first interviews with Clinton about the book. In the end, Clinton sat down with several of them; the first went to
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show ''Good Morning America'', ''Ni ...
'
Diane Sawyer Lila Diane Sawyer (; born December 22, 1945) is an American television broadcast journalist known for anchoring major programs on two networks including ''ABC World News Tonight'', ''Good Morning America'', '' 20/20'', and ''Primetime'' newsmaga ...
and aired on June 9. The interviews themselves sometimes made news on topics unrelated to those covered by the book, such as Clinton's description to Sawyer of her and Bill's financial state as they left the White House ("dead broke") and an exchange with
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
's
Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of ''Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR in ...
on Clinton's evolving views on same-sex marriage. A later, unannounced appearance on ''
The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focus ...
'' earned her some positive notices for a comic touch in her mock exchanges with host
Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
. A promotional book tour in the United States and Canada began on June 10 with a book signing at a Barnes & Noble store in New York that attracted over a thousand people. Other events, sometimes multiple per day, included a public discussion forum in Chicago with Mayor
Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...
, a former Clinton administration aide. When signing books, she just wrote "Hillary"; no signing of personal items or extra messages were allowed. Clinton's longtime aide
Huma Abedin Huma Mahmood Abedin ( ur, ; born July 28, 1975) is an American political staffer who was vice chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for President of the United States. Before that, Abedin was deputy chief of staff to Clinton when she was U. ...
was in charge of managing each event. The tour events had the air of campaign stops. Each brought considerable local media attention. The independent SuperPAC known as
Ready for Hillary Ready may refer to: Film and television * ''Ready'', a 2002 British short starring Imelda Staunton * ''Ready'' (2008 film), a Telugu film * ''Ready'' (2011 film), a Hindi remake of the Telugu film * "Ready" (''New Girl''), a television episo ...
parked a " Hillary Bus" nearby and handed out stickers and posters and signed up volunteers. She herself has never gone on the bus; ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...
'' described it as "a campaign bus before there is even a campaign". Meanwhile, the
Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
had an intern go around greeting attendees in a large orange squirrel suit. It wore a shirt with the message "Another Clinton in the White House is Nuts" and was accompanied by other staffers handing out sheets with anti-Clinton talking points. During one promotional appearance in Washington, D.C., Clinton went up to the orange figure and said, "Hello, Mr. Squirrel, how are you? I wanted you to get you a copy of my book," adding, "you bring a smile to a lot of people's faces." The copy she gave the squirrel was inscribed, "Squirrel – Please make a hard choice and read my book! Hillary". In early July, Clinton went to Europe to stage promotional appearances for the book, visiting England, Germany, and France. Book signings back in the U.S. continued for the rest of that month. The length of the promotional tour recalled her heavy travel schedule as Secretary of State, and largely put to rest questions about her health that had circulated among some since her concussion and blood clot treatment in late 2012. While the appearances and the news coverage of some of her statements during the tour exposed some of Clinton's strengths and weaknesses as a public figure, they did not change Clinton's poll approval numbers.


Critical and commercial reception

Initial reviews for ''Hard Choices'' were generally mixed to favorable. Writing for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', longtime book critic
Michiko Kakutani Michiko Kakutani (born January 9, 1955) is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life ...
said that the volume is better than Clinton's previous memoir and that ''Hard Choices'' "turns out to be a subtle, finely calibrated work that provides a portrait of the former secretary of state and former first lady as a heavy-duty policy wonk."
David Ignatius David Reynolds Ignatius (born May 26, 1950) is an American journalist and novelist. He is an associate editor and columnist for ''The Washington Post''. He has written eleven novels, including '' Body of Lies'', which director Ridley Scott adap ...
, writing in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...
'', said the memoir "begins and ends in the empty voice of a campaign speech. But in between, it contains a clear and at times riveting account of Hillary Rodham Clinton's four years as secretary of state." Robin Abcarian of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' assessed it as "a richly detailed and compelling chronicle of Clinton's role in the foreign initiatives and crises that defined the first term of the Obama administration ... told from the point of view of a policy wonk." John Dickerson of ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' magazine characterized it as "a risk-free telling of Clinton's world travels" and compared it unfavorably to '' Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War'', the recent account by
Robert Gates Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president George W. Bush a ...
, Clinton's cabinet colleague as Secretary of Defense. Dickerson added, "Clinton's account is the low-salt, low-fat, low-calorie offering with vanilla pudding as the dessert. She goes on at great length, but not great depth." Michael Scherer of ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' magazine declared, "This is a campaign book, written by a candidate (via her speechwriters), processed through a political machine, and delivered to the public with the contradictory goals of depicting the author as a decisive leader and not betraying any evidence of leadership that would turn a voter off." Ed Pilkington of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...
'' wrote that it was a less overt campaign manifesto than Barack Obama's ''
The Audacity of Hope ''The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream'' is the second book written by Barack Obama. It became number one on both the ''New York Times'' and Amazon.com bestsellers lists in the fall of 2006, after Obama had been endor ...
'' had been in 2006, but "still manages to adroitly position Clinton for a 2016 presidential bid." Peter Baker of the ''
New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' compared it somewhat unfavorably with former State Secretary
Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (pronounced ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer. As the 51st U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to 1953. He was also Truma ...
's 1969 memoir, '' Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department'', concluding his review by alluding to Clinton's possible presidential aspirations by saying that "Acheson won a Pulitzer Prize for his memoir. Clinton seems to have a bigger prize in mind." By the time of the book's publication, it was said to have already received one million pre-orders. In actuality, Simon & Schuster said that it during its first week on sale, it sold over 100,000 copies, a figure supported by extrapolation of the underlying
Nielsen BookScan BookScan is a data provider for the book publishing industry that compiles point of sale data for book sales, owned by The NPD Group in the United States and the Nielsen Company in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Sout ...
data. It debuted at first on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list for hardcover nonfiction. During its second and third weeks of availability, sales of ''Hard Choices'' declined markedly, but were still enough to keep it atop the ''Times'' Best Sellers list. In the fourth week, sales declined again and the book surrendered the top spot on the ''Times'' Best Sellers list to Edward Klein's ''Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas'', a lurid and lightly sourced account of purported rivalries between the two couples and within each marriage. By this point, ''Hard Choices'' had sold some 177,000 physical copies. By the end of July, the book had sold about 250,000 copies overall, including an estimate for e-book sales. In all, it spent twelve weeks on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list, nine of them in the top five. Whether sales for the book were living up to expectations, or indicated a lack of public interest in hearing from Clinton, became an immediate subject for public relations and political spin from interested parties. Its sales were better than those of memoirs by other former members of the Obama administration, but were considerably less than they had been in the comparable period for Clinton's first memoir ''Living History''. The publisher explained this as partly due to the differing contents of the two memoirs and partly due to the declining market for physical, nonfiction books over the decade between the two. In any case, Simon & Schuster was unlikely to make back Clinton's advance or to sell all the copies it had shipped. ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' termed the book's sales "a solid figure in a depleted publishing industry but far from the juggernaut her backers hoped for." The book continued to accumulate sales into the year following its publication. By March 2015, Nielsen BookScan had it selling 264,000 copies, and figure that rose to 280,000 copies by July 2015 and 292,200 copies by March 2016. By mid-2015, Clinton had earned more than $5 million in royalties from the book. Compared to recent books published by the many 2016 Republican presidential candidates, her sales were well short of
Ben Carson Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he ...
's ''One Nation: What We Can All Do To Save America's Future'', but were well ahead of those of any of the others, with only the combined sales of a pair of books by
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
coming close. By late November 2015, counting both print and e-books, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' magazine said ''Hard Choices'' had sold a little over 340,000 units.


Foreign editions and translations

Simon & Schuster viewed international and foreign language sales as key to the book's potential for success. On its initial release date of June 10, it was published in Canada, Great Britain, Australia, India, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. A Spanish language translation, ''Decisiones difíciles'', was released on June 24 in the U.S. Altogether, foreign rights to the book were sold in sixteen countries. While also available in Hong Kong and Taiwan, ''Hard Choices'' was effectively banned in mainland China as publishers there declined to purchase either the translation or English-language distribution rights for the book. Although Chinese publishers did not offer a specific reason for declining to buy the book, Simon & Schuster asserted that the ban was politically motivated as import agencies and publishers were fearful of retaliation by the Chinese government for printing material that was too politically sensitive, such as the chapter-length coverage of Chinese dissident
Chen Guangcheng Chen Guangcheng (born November 12, 1971) is a Chinese civil rights activist who has worked on human rights issues in rural areas of the People's Republic of China. Blind from an early age and self-taught in the law, Chen is frequently describe ...
and Clinton's generally critical comments about the Chinese government.


Paperback version

The paperback version of ''Hard Choices'' followed the hardcover and was released on April 28, 2015, two weeks after the announcement of her 2016 presidential campaign. The new epilogue from the paperback edition, titled "A New Chapter", was initially published by ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' by Clinton on April 10. The paperback version also has a new cover, in color, in which Clinton is angled away from the camera, turning her head and smiling slightly, while dressed in a blue, collared shirt and wearing bold silver earrings.


References


External links


Simon & Schuster website for the bookAmazon.com's book reviews and description

Barnes & Noble's editorial reviews and overview
* {{Hillary Rodham Clinton 2014 non-fiction books American memoirs Books about Hillary Clinton Books about the Obama administration Books by Hillary Clinton Political memoirs Simon & Schuster books