Much of the message of this book can be summed up by her comment, “whether billionaire or pauper, we are all bound by time,” and she then proceeds to present a life that has been fully packed with exciting experiences. Those experiences seemed to have taken her everywhere.
She does write about a small town in Michigan that is named Hell. It was unclear if she had ever been there, but she mentioned that it had been known to freeze over there. She also says, “There is a special place in Hell for women who don’t help other women.”
The book reflects on the world since she left office in 2001, and at that time, she said she was worn out, but it seems clear that she loved every minute of it. She starts the book with a review of her options at that time: write a memoir, hit the lecture circuit, teach, establish “a small consulting firm, run primarily by women,” all of which she did.
The consulting firm’s mission was to “do good, and whatever the cost was to the bottom line, we didn’t want our children to think of us as creeps.” She meant that they would do no lobbying for big tobacco or the gun lobby and embrace worthwhile causes.
“Hell and Other Destinations” is her 7th book, and she refers to the follow-up work required as “the endurance test known as a book tour.” She liked the lecture tours that sometimes went with her book tours and said that diplomatic analysis was her thing. She speaks about it from the perspective of one who understands that diplomacy is the art of persuading “each side to settle for part of what it wants rather than prolong a squabble by demanding all.” It follows and is no surprise that she is put off by the Trumpian approach, to say nothing of the man himself, adding that “It was one thing to crave change; quite another to choose Donald Trump to define it.” She says of Trump that he a fascist and that he has the most anti-democratic instincts of any president in modern American history.
The book is a testimony and self-portrait of women with a zest for life. She broke her share of glass ceilings, and her connections span is impressive.
