Bill Clinton memoir planned for post-election release
Former President Clinton is penning a new memoir focused on his life after leaving the White House, promising a candid look at both his successes and “mistakes” that he “made along the way.”
“Citizen: My Life After the White House” will be released on Nov. 19 — just two weeks after Election Day — publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced Thursday.
The memoir, Clinton said in a statement, “is the story of my 23-plus years since leaving the White House, told largely through the stories of other people who changed my life as I tried to help change theirs, of those who supported me, including those I loved and lost, and of the mistakes I made along the way.”
Cover image of “Citizen: My Life After the White House” by former President Bill Clinton. (Courtesy of Alfred A. Knopf)
“A life in public service can be deeply rewarding if you accept that in the constant ebb and flow of history there are no permanent victories or defeats," the former president continued, "and never forget that every life is a story that, regardless of time and circumstance, deserves to be seen and heard."
“I knew as I entered this new chapter of my life that I’d keep score the way I always have: Are people better off when you quit than when you started? Do our children have a brighter future? Are we coming together instead of falling apart?” he added.
In the book, Clinton will touch with “breathtaking honesty” on the Iraq War, his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The 77-year-old former commander-in-chief wrote his autobiography, “My Life,” in 2004, three years after he left office.
The publisher of "Citizen" dubbed the 42nd president’s memoir a “rare and unflinching look at life after presidency,” saying it gives “fascinating insight into Clinton’s life — both personal and political.”
“Drawing on hard-won wisdom from over 50 years in politics,” Knopf said in an announcement touting the book, “Clinton pens a clear-sighted account of American democracy on the global stage, showing just how we got here and how we might embark on the road ahead.”