When Hillary Clinton came out with her book What Happened less than a year after losing the 2016 US Presidential election, I was on the fence as to if I wanted to read it.

Where I was interested in hearing her own story directly through her own lens and not through that of the media, I was also hoping this wouldn’t simply be a book of excuses for why she lost. Then I got the book for Christmas that year, and it went on the shelf awaiting to be read. Somehow other books piqued my interest more, but as the Special Counsel was appointed the investigation into President Trump and the White House began, it made sense to me to read What Happened.

Shortly into the 500 plus pages of the book I formed my takeaways from it, only to be reinforced as I turned from chapter to chapter.

All of what happened is in there – This is something I was hoping for –all of the reasons for why she won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College. Many times she brought up the email scandal and then FBI Director Comey as a primary reason. But among the pages she did admit that she should have gone to states like Wisconsin and Michigan, and even one line was in there that some people may not like her. As far as I am concerned, the book lived up to its title.

Insight into behind-the-scenes of the campaign – I have only been involved intensely with a political campaign and it was many years ago. There is a certain momentum and buzz about it, and many characters and scenarios as well. The story of Clinton’s 2016 campaign is told well here, in a voice and cadence that sounds like her own. My guess is some of this was written during the campaign, with some editing for how the results turned out.

Hillary Clinton will be the 2020 Democratic Nominee for President of the United States – She wanted to be President and I feel she still wants to be. Will she win? We’ll see.

What Happened was a good read, and that is coming from a non-partisan. Those who are strictly partisan will either love or loathe is book, depending on what “side” they are on. As I give away all copies of this book, I decided to leave it at a Little Free Library at a local storage facility where I have my extra stuff stored away. There have been some interesting titles there, and I may take one to replace this one on my shelf.

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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