by Huma Abedin
The daughter of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals and advocates who split their time between Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the United States, Abedin grew up in many worlds. Both/And grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, and motherhood with wisdom and sophistication.
Abedin launched full steam into a college internship in the office of the first lady in 1996, never imagining that her work at the White House would blossom into a career in public service, nor that the career would become an all-consuming way of life. Still in her twenties and thirties, she thrived in rooms with diplomats and sovereigns, entrepreneurs and artists, philanthropists and activists, and witnessed many crucial moments in 21st-century American history—Camp David for urgent efforts at Middle East peace in the waning months of the Clinton administration, Ground Zero in the days after the 9/11 attacks, the inauguration of the first African American president of the United States, the convention floor when America nominated its first female presidential candidate.
Abedin's relationship with Clinton has seen both women through extraordinary personal and professional highs, as well as unimaginable lows. Here, for the first time, is a deeply personal account of Hillary Clinton as mentor, confidante, and role model. Abedin cuts through caricature, rumor, and misinformation to reveal a crystal-clear portrait of Clinton as a brilliant and caring leader a steadfast friend, generous, funny, hardworking, and dedicated. Both/And is a candid and heartbreaking chronicle of Abedin's marriage to Anthony Weiner, what drew her to him, how much she wanted to believe in him, the devastation wrought by his betrayals—and their shared love for their son.
It is also a timeless story of a young woman with aspirations and ideals coming into her own in high-pressure jobs, and a testament to the potential for women in leadership to blaze a path forward while supporting those who follow in their footsteps. Both/And describes Abedin's journey through the opportunities and obstacles, the trials and triumphs, of a full and complex life. Abedin's compassion and courage, her resilience and grace, her work ethic and mission are an inspiration to people of all ages.
"This journey has led me through exhilarating milestones and devastating setbacks," said Abedin. "I have walked both with great pride and in overwhelming shame. It is a life I am—more than anything—enormously grateful for and a story I look forward to sharing."
The daughter of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals and advocates who split their time between Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the United States, Abedin grew up in many worlds. Both/And grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, and motherhood with wisdom and sophistication.
Abedin launched full steam into a college internship in the office of the first lady in 1996, never imagining that her work at the White House would blossom into a career in public service, nor that the career would become an all-consuming way of life. Still in her twenties and thirties, she thrived in rooms with diplomats and sovereigns, entrepreneurs and artists, philanthropists and activists, and witnessed many crucial moments in 21st-century American history—Camp David for urgent efforts at Middle East peace in the waning months of the Clinton administration, Ground Zero in the days after the 9/11 attacks, the inauguration of the first African American president of the United States, the convention floor when America nominated its first female presidential candidate.
Abedin's relationship with Clinton has seen both women through extraordinary personal and professional highs, as well as unimaginable lows. Here, for the first time, is a deeply personal account of Hillary Clinton as mentor, confidante, and role model. Abedin cuts through caricature, rumor, and misinformation to reveal a crystal-clear portrait of Clinton as a brilliant and caring leader a steadfast friend, generous, funny, hardworking, and dedicated. Both/And is a candid and heartbreaking chronicle of Abedin's marriage to Anthony Weiner, what drew her to him, how much she wanted to believe in him, the devastation wrought by his betrayals—and their shared love for their son.
It is also a timeless story of a young woman with aspirations and ideals coming into her own in high-pressure jobs, and a testament to the potential for women in leadership to blaze a path forward while supporting those who follow in their footsteps. Both/And describes Abedin's journey through the opportunities and obstacles, the trials and triumphs, of a full and complex life. Abedin's compassion and courage, her resilience and grace, her work ethic and mission are an inspiration to people of all ages.
"This journey has led me through exhilarating milestones and devastating setbacks," said Abedin. "I have walked both with great pride and in overwhelming shame. It is a life I am—more than anything—enormously grateful for and a story I look forward to sharing."
Reviews-
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December 1, 2021
Hillary Clinton's chief aide recounts years of being in the spotlight--and the tabloids. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to intellectual parents from South Asia and raised for much of her life in Saudi Arabia, Abedin grew up in "a family of practicing Muslims whose faith was central to their everyday lives." This did nothing to detract from her profound sense of American identity. As she recalls of her early life in the theocracy, "I loved living there, but I don't know if I would look back on it so fondly...had I not been certain that freedoms I couldn't enjoy in my current reality were just a flight away." Her sense of patriotism led her to government service and, from there, as an intern, into the halls of federal agencies and then the White House, where she became a low-level assistant working with the first lady. She excelled and was drawn ever closer and higher into Clinton's orbit, where she found a new role model. "For years, Christiane Amanpour had personified all my aspirations," she writes. "In Hillaryland, I discovered other models for doing important work." At about the same time, she met New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, who gave off a vibe at once suave and predatory; it marked the beginning of a troubled marriage characterized by his betrayals, including a deeply disturbing moment involving the suggestion of "a violation of the innocence of our child." In a time of desperate battle during Clinton's presidential campaign, it robbed Abedin of focus and bandwidth, to say nothing of drawing her into an FBI investigation involving leaked emails. Though much of her story is deeply personal, the author writes with a detached distance from events--yet she retains a battle-wearied optimism and a certainty about the prospects of her former boss: "Hillary Clinton would have been an exceptional President of the United States. Maybe one of the best presidents." Minor in the larger library of Clintoniana but a readable memoir that's both regretful and quietly defiant.COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
