Working behind the scenes for the 18 months following Bill's election, Bob Woodward has discovered how the Clinton White House really works. In The Agenda, he offers one of the most intimate portraits of a sitting president ever published, taking us not only to the highest level meetings, the hard-fought debates, and most difficult decisions but also to the very heart of this presidency -- and of this man. In a day-by-day, at times minute-by-minute, account, President Clinton is shown debating, scolding, pleading, celebrating, and raging in anger and frustration. What emerges also is a group portrait of Clinton's innermost circle of advisers in action -- including his wife Hillary, Vice President Al Gore, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and the economic team, the White House staff, and outside political strategists. In this gripping audio adaptation, The Agenda reveals the deep and still unsettled conflicts among Clinton's advisers and within himself -- on the questions that affect every person in this country. Watergate sleuth Woodward (All the President's Men, 1974) turns his attention to the Clinton administration and unveils a complicated, temperamental, and visionary leader. Beginning with Clinton's entry into the presidential race and continuing through his first year in office, Woodward records the pulse of a leader deeply committed to making profound changes. In his introduction, Woodward states his intent to fill the void between journalism and history by providing accurate, in-depth narratives based upon exhaustive research and documentation. The listener is given details without a critique of the President's actions. Narrator Kevin Spacey is simply excellent at conveying the urgency, idealism, and confusion evident during Clinton's early months. All libraries should purchase. Ray Vignovich, West Des Moines P.L., Ia. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Bob Woodward is the Assistant Managing Editor for investigations at The Washington Post. Over the last twenty years, he has authored or co-authored six number-one national bestsellers. Woodward and Carl Bernstein, in their Pulitzer Prize-winning work for The Washington Post and their two books, All the President's Men and The Final Days, set the standard for White House reporting. Since then Woodward has tackled the Supreme Court in The Brethren, the Hollywood drug culture in Wired, the CIA in Veil, and the Pentagon in The Commanders. In The Agenda, he returns to the White House drama, producing one of the most illuminating books on the modern presidency. Bob Woodward introduces the abridged tape of his book about the first year of the Clinton administration, as seen from inside the White House. Happily, Kevin Spacey, a far better reader, continues the tale of meetings upon meetings, mostly concerning efforts to pass Clinton's budget plan in 1993. The entire production sounds as if someone has chosen random eighteen-and-a-half minute segments from one year of White House tapes. Is the book itself or its abridgment responsible for this lack of continuity and organization? Woodward promotes The Agenda as a combination of journalism and history, but this version does little to advance either discipline. S.F.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine