Press Release — Simon & Schuster FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Victoria Meyer, Executive Director of Publicity SIMON & SCHUSTER TO PUBLISH THE ACCOUNT OF PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON’S CONFIDENTIAL DIARY PROJECT New York, N.Y., March 22, 2007 -- A book based on interviews with President Bill Clinton throughout his eight years in the White House, recorded privately by author Taylor Branch, will be published by Simon & Schuster, it was announced today “These conversations are unprecedented in American history,” said David Rosenthal, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Simon & Schuster. “No other sitting President has compiled such a log of fresh experience, anguish, and reflection.” Branch is writing the book with the full knowledge of President Clinton, though he will have no editorial input or approval. This will be Branch’s first book since completing America in the King Years 1954-68, his landmark trilogy on the modern civil rights era. Its first volume, Parting the Waters (1988), won a Pulitzer Prize for History and the National Book Critics Circle award. Pillar of Fire (1998) won the Sidney Hillman Prize and the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award. At Canaan’s Edge (2006) has won the Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Prize, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle award, and remains a finalist for a Los Angeles Times Book Award to be announced in April. Tentatively entitled Wrestling History: The Bill Clinton Tapes, the book is scheduled for publication late in 2008. It was acquired from Liz Darhansoff of Darhansoff, Verrill & Feldman by Branch’s longtime editor at S&S, Alice Mayhew. The White House diary project grew from an initiative by Clinton shortly after his election in 1992. “We hadn’t really talked for twenty years, since shortly after college,” Branch recalled. “Then suddenly, as President-elect, he asked me whether his incoming appointees would keep records vivid enough to let future historians capture the reality of his administration. I was surprised. He hadn’t even taken office, but he was talking about footnotes and libraries.” Clinton observed that presidents since Richard Nixon have not taped their official telephone calls for posterity. At his request, Branch compiled suggestions to supplement the predicted “dry mountain” of archival material. One recommendation was a presidential diary. Many factors of politics, law, and security complicated logistics for the recording project. To minimize awareness within his staff, Clinton scheduled nearly all the sessions at night in the White House residence, mostly in his second-floor office known as the Treaty Room. Branch made duplicate tapes to guard against malfunction. The President stored them in his sock drawer. Sitting with Branch, prompted by questions about contemporary events, President Clinton completed 79 diary sessions averaging roughly 90 minutes in length. Also, the two men discussed the project on more than twenty other occasions between 1993 and 2001, including several diary talks that were abbreviated by the press of official business. Branch dictated notes immediately after each contact, beginning on the hour-long drive back to his home in Baltimore. These transcribed dictations run to a cumulative total of nearly 2,600 pages. They are the primary raw material for the book in progress. Branch’s dictations cover the diary sessions from many angles: what was said on and off the tapes, plus impressions on the workings of Clinton’s mind, his changing moods and movements, the mix of family life and dramas on the world stage. Branch puts the reader on a shoulder as President Clinton speaks of matters ranging from his golf swing to the Balkan wars and his searing impeachment trial. The book rises from a unique collaboration, aimed to preserve the fullest record of a pivotal president whose place in history is far from settled. To illuminate Clinton’s struggle with himself and his times, Branch sketches his own conflicted roles as historian, citizen, and friend. Mayhew noted that the forthcoming book will portray a towering and controversial president through the eyes of a writer known for masterful presentation of sensitive, complex history. “I can’t imagine a better match of author and subject,” she said. Simon & Schuster, a part of the CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Online, and international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit our website at www.simonsays.com |