Indexing Bill: The Washington Read
EVERYONE IN THE nation's capital knew, just knew, that Bill Clinton's book would be explosive. But it wasn't until the first purchasers ventured out last Monday, lining up at midnight like BC students seeking Red Sox playoff tickets, that they discovered the extent of the outrage.
The 38-page index isn't complete. It isn't even accurate. And thus the one thing that made the book a "Washington read" -- the chance to learn who was or wasn't included -- was lost like an invitation that got caught in the mail.
Why, for instance, among the foreign-policy gurus listed on page 103 are ambassador Edwin Reischauerand diplomat George Kennan listed in the index, while New York Timesman Harrison Salisbury and Massachusetts' own General James Gavin are not?
Worse, some mildly promising mentions are wrong. The index says page 563 refers to Barbra Streisand's friendship with Clinton's mother, but it actually discusses presidential appointments, the National Child Protection Act, and crafts chosen by Hillary as 1993 Christmas decorations.
Most listings aren't by subject, so the index doesn't say on which of the 12 pages that mention former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers does he alert the president that he has just met "some guy named Bono -- just one name -- dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and big sunglasses."
The victims of the sloppy index are, at first blush, the peripheral Washington and Little Rock figures who are noted in the book but not listed, an ignominy that may be worse than not being included at all, since they paid for those references in fealty to Clinton.
But all readers are cheated since this massive book was so clearly constructed to be read from the index forward: Paragraph after paragraph is devoted to long-forgotten aides, officials, friends, and White House guests. ("Early in the month, Ned McWherter, Brereton Jones, and Booth Gardner, respectively the governors of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Washington, endorsed me. . ..") Few emerge as characters or figure in events: They're just mentioned.
Clinton, who is not famous for standing by former coat-holders, may be doing some atoning. After all, he or Hillary might need them. Then again, the book reportedly was written, furiously, in the middle of the night, in longhand, off White House logs and diaries. Maybe copying names was the easiest way to fill the pages.
Therefore, the Washingtonians who flip to the back of the book may not be betraying their shallowness or their vanity so much as their superior understanding of Clinton's intentions.
Either way, they probably feel cheated.
Peter Canellos is the Globe's Washington bureau chief.
