[1] Critics charged that the book deal, coming soon after her election to the U.S. Senate, but before being sworn into office, was not in adherence to the ethical standards required for members of the U.S.

The smartest decision I made was to ask Lissa Muscatine, Maryanne Vollers and Ruby Shamir to spend two years of their lives working with me.

Reviews of Living History were mixed,[7] with a typical evaluation commending the chapters describing her early life, decrying the overly lengthy later treatments of relatively mundane events as First Lady, and criticizing the lack of candor in the sections covering controversial episodes, including those surrounding her husband and the Lewinsky scandal.

[10]) Clinton's energetic promotion of the book, which included signing an estimated 20,000 copies (causing her to require ice and wrist support treatments), was credited for part of the success.

[14] A paperback edition was released in April 2004 with an additional short afterword in which Clinton described her experiences in doing book signing events.