Do All the Good You Can
About the Book
After more than forty contentious years in the public eye, Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the best-known political figures in the nation. Yet many of her admirers would be surprised to hear Clinton state that her Methodist outlook has "been a huge part of who I am and how I have seen the world, and what I believe in, and what I have tried to do in my life."Gary Scott Smith examines the role of Clinton's faith in her life and work. Clinton's lifelong Methodism shaped a missionary zeal that, combined with her impressive personal talents, fueled many of her high-profile political endeavors while helping her cope with the prominent travails brought on by never-ending conservative rancor and her husband's infidelity. Smith places Clinton's faith within the context of projects ranging from healthcare reform to a "Hillary doctrine" of foreign policy focused on her longtime goal of providing basic human rights for children and women. The result is an enlightening reconsideration of an extraordinary political figure who has defied private doubts and public controversy to live the Methodist dictum that one must "do all the good you can."
About the Author
Gary Scott Smith is a professor of history emeritus at Grove City College. His many books include Strength of the Fight: The Life and Faith of Jackie Robinson and Duty and Destiny: The Life and Faith of Winston Churchill.Reviews
"This fine-grained study is a must for students of contemporary American religion and politics." --Publishers Weekly"Smith's even-handed biography will shed new light on this little-known aspect of Clinton's character and career." --Third Coast Review
"Do All the Good You Can is an encomium to Hillary Rodham Clinton as a politician and a Methodist." --Foreword Reviews
"Smith's Do All the Good You Can works as a useful addition to the ongoing debate over the role of religion in public life and the personal religiosity or lack thereof of our public figures. Do All the Good You Can can be a reassuring nod to the continued presence, however private, of religious faith in the United States." --Association for Mormon Letters
"Filled with astute observations. . . Smith is by no means uncritical. Yet he demonstrates throughout the books that 'Clinton's faith is more deeply rooted and fervent than many supporters, opponents, pundits, and biographers have recognized.'" --Christian Century
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