'What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?': Jimmy Carter, America's 'Malaise,' and the Speech That Should Have Changed the Country

On January 20, 2001, the most powerful and arguably most ambitious man in the world relinquished the public stage, reluctantly, at the young age of fifty-four. Since then President Bill Clinton has moved in and out of the shadows of this "exile," leaving the millions who knew him to wonder: How has this man of such outsized talent and passions adjusted to leaving power?

Based on more than 150 interviews with the former president's friends, associates, and sometime enemies, Clinton in Exile takes readers from Clinton's last hours in office, through his indulgent personal life and well-publicized humanitarian efforts, to his front-of-camera and behind-the-scenes coordination of his wife's presidential campaign. This is a fascinating and textured portrait of one of the most towering, intriguing, and deeply controversial figures of our time.

On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you."

What would normally be a quiet, very private event was, in Alex's case, headline news. Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous-two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet, over the years, Alex proved many things. He could add. He could sound out words. He understood concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none. He was capable of thought and intention. Together, Alex and Irene uncovered a startling reality: We live in a world populated by thinking, conscious creatures.

The fame that resulted was extraordinary. Yet there was a side to their relationship that never made the papers. They were emotionally connected to one another. They shared a deep bond far beyond science. Alex missed Irene when she was away. He was jealous when she paid attention to other parrots, or even people. He liked to show her who was boss. He loved to dance. He sometimes became bored by the repetition of his tests, and played jokes on her. Sometimes they sniped at each other. Yet nearly every day, they each said, "I love you."

Alex and Irene stayed together through thick and thin-despite sneers from experts, extraordinary financial sacrifices, and a nomadic existence from one univer­sity to another. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and of an unforgettable human-animal bond.

"A stunning work of history."—Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of No Ordinary Time and Team of Rivals

“My effort here is to give firsthand testimony on the man and president I saw, ‘with bark off,’ as he used to say when he wanted me to describe a difficult situation cold and true, with no punches pulled.…The Lyndon Johnson I knew was brave and brutal, compassionate and cruel, incredibly intelligent and infuriatingly insensitive, with shrewd and uncanny instinct for the jugular of his allies and adversaries. He could be altruistic and petty, caring and crude, generous and petulant, bluntly honest and calculatingly devious—all within the same few minutes.”—Joseph A. Califano, Jr.