Both/And; A Life In Many Worlds
Brigette Lacombe (Jacket photograph) New York: Scribner, 2021. First Scribner Hardcover Edition [Stated], First Printing. Hardcover. x, 528, [6] pages. Illustrations. Index. The authors' signature is on a bookplate affixed to the fep. The book covers Abedin's childhood in Saudi Arabia, her Muslim faith, her time as an aide to Clinton and her relationship with former Democratic Representative and former husband, Anthony Weiner. Abedin also explores the multiple identities that have shaped her, in particular being born in Michigan and then raised in Saudi Arabia by a Pakistani father and an Indian mother. In the book, Abedin describes being sexually assaulted by a U.S. senator; she does not give any clues as to his identity. Huma Mahmood Abedin (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.S. Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. She was also the traveling chief of staff and former assistant to Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election. During Hillary Clinton's tenure at the State Department and her presidential campaign, Abedin became one of Clinton's closest aides. Her high-profile political career has caused her personal life to come under public scrutiny over the years, particularly her marriage to former congressman Anthony Weiner. Derived from a Kirkus review: 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. A readable memoir that’s both regretful and quietly defiant. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Hillary Clinton, Anthony Weiner, Sexual Assault, Department of State, Bill Clinton, Islam, Muslim, Barack Obama, Philippe Reines, Donald Trump, Jake Sullivan, White House
ISBN: 9781501194801
[Book #88828]
Price: $125.00