What they said about
SHADOWS OF HOPE
by Sam Smith. . .

The first book to raise serious questions about Bill Clinton

"[Compared to The Agenda] Smith's book is by far the wiser and more useful and certainly the more entertaining of the two. . . [Bob Woodward's] judgments, when he works up the energy to make any, are purely mundane. Smith, on the other hand, is turned on by politics. . .His saucy judgments remind one of the way H. L. Mencken handled presidential campaigns." -- Robert Sherrill, The Texas Observer.

"Smith offers [a] community based, participatory politics that's neither left nor right wing but the whole bird. . . . His work is not different from what quality journalism ought to be: truth-seeking, independent, fair-minded and debunking." -- Colman McCarthy, Washington Post

"Even ideological critics will appreciate his role as an unaligned skeptic. In an age of sound bites and increasing political homogenization, "Shadows of Hope" is an encouraging sign that independent analysis is still alive." -- Michael Rust., Washingon Times

"Smith's book really shines in the final chapter, in which he offers nothing less than a blueprint for citizen recapture of government." -- Tom McNichols, Washington City Paper

"So acute an observer of Clinton is Smith that I had to be forcibly restrained from quoting several yards of his book." -- Edith Efron, Reason Magazine

"If you want an understanding of how all ideas in Washington DC are eventually trivialized and mulched by the chipper-shredder of media politics, it is Smith's book rather than Woodward's that provides the insight. . . As freely as [Woodward's] sources spoke, The Agenda is, oddly enough, not filled with memorable quotes. Fortunately, Shadows has an abundance of them. " -- James J. McCusker, Everett, Washington, Herald

In the style and tradition of I. F. Stone -- Eugene McCarthy

Lively, astute and powerful critique of the Clinton approach to our national crises. It raises profound questions about our two-party system as a corruption of the democratic ideal -- Historian and author Howard Zinn

Unlike most studies of sitting presidents, Sam Smith's common sense portrayal of the multiple identities and goals of the postmodern Clinton administration could easily become the abiding themes of later interpretations. . .A clarion warning about the increasingly meaningless and undemocratic nature of sound-byte American politics -- Historian and author Joan Hoff

Published 1994 by Indiana University Press

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In 1992, several months before Clinton's nomination, The Progressive Review became the first publication to assemble the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that would come to be known as the Clinton scandals. The Review identified a score of questionable individuals and institutions central to the story -- including Webster Hubbell, Dan Lasater and Mochtar Riady.

In 1994, Shadows of Hope, by Review editor Sam Smith, was published by Indiana University Press. It was the first book to challenge the media-driven Clinton myth. Shadows of Hope examined Clinton's post-modern contempt for candor, consistency and character, and discussed the problems this might cause the nation.

In October 1996, the Review reported that "there seems to be adequate grounds for impeachment," based on the suborning of witnesses, obstruction of justice, and abuse of FBI files.

In June 1997, the Review published a draft presidential impeachment resolution. The resolution was identical to one used in a prior instance except that the name Richard Nixon had been replaced with the name William Jefferson Clinton.

To this day, the Review remains one of the few publications in America that recognizes that the Clinton story was not about sex but about mob politics -- the intertwining of corrupt politicians with drug trafficking, other organized crime, rogue intelligence operations, and international espionage.