In her rush to be one of the first to publish a book about Hillary Clinton's term as Secretary of State Kim Ghattas creates a unique but lacking view into American foreign relations. Ghattas' childhood in Lebanon allows her to view American foreign relations differently than others. This ended up enhancing the book and detracting from it as well. It enhanced it by giving me (an American) a glimpse into how people from other countries really view my country. It detracted from the main point of the book by at points turning into what felt like a therapy session. When I read about government and politics I really want to hear about what happened during heated meetings between leaders of countries and important historical events, I don't want it to turn into a quasi-memoir about the author.As a part of the press corps that follows Hillary Clinton around during her travels Ghattas definitely had an inside look into the inner-workings of Clinton and her advisers. I was interested and fascinated by what Ghattas is able to reveal about the important events that took place while Clinton was Secretary of State. The section that I was most interested in reading was the one about the uprising and revolution in Egypt and the Arab Spring. I remember being absolutely fascinated when it was happening and was glued to my tv watching news coverage of it. I was a bit upset that there were certain events that Ghattas either glossed over or completely left out. One of the major events I would have loved reading more about was the killing of Osama bin Laden. I thought for sure that Ghattas would mention this and show readers it through the eyes of Clinton. That was definitely not the case as it was included in a whole whopping 4 sentence paragraph. Another event that I felt was pretty important and should have been included, especially since Clinton was the Secretary of State, was the bombing of the American embassy in Libya. Instead of rushing to get this book out I feel Ghattas should have included this in the book. It was a tragic event for the State Department and for Clinton herself.Overall I felt this book had its interesting moments but that it definitely needs more work. I would recommend this book to those looking to read about Clinton's time as Secretary of State.[I received this book from a Librarything Early Reviewers giveaway. The content of my review is not affected by that in any way.]
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