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Book of Hillary Clinton
the book

It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us is a book published in 1996 by First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton. In it, Clinton presents her vision for the children of America. She focuses on the impact individuals and groups outside the family have, for better or worse, on a child's well being, and advocates a society which meets all of a child's needs. The book was written with uncredited ghostwriter Barbara Feinman. The book was republished as a Tenth Anniversary Edition in 2006 and saw publication as a picture book in 2017.

Publishers had approached Clinton since the spring of 1994 with the idea of writing a book, and announcement of the upcoming book came in April 1995 from the publisher she chose, Simon & Schuster. Carolyn Reidy, head of Simon & Schuster's trade books division, said "We have all known that Hillary Rodham Clinton has devoted most of her career to issues of children. But outside of a handful of articles and speeches, her thoughts on these issues have not been available to everyone in an easily readable format. I think it will be an inspiring book." although she was frequently hit with questions about her involvement in the Whitewater and Travelgate controversies. The book spent 18 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List during 1996 including three weeks at number one. By 2000 it had sold 450,000 copies in hardcover and another 200,000 in paperback. The theme of the book, at least as perceived from its title, aroused immediate opposition within the United States. A well known instance of this occurred during the 1996 presidential election when, during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Republican Party nominee Bob Dole said: " with all due respect, I am here to tell you, it does not take a village to raise a child. It takes a family to raise a child." Criticism of Clinton's notion would continue to be made by American conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Andrea Tantaros, and Jonah Goldberg through the next two decades. In 1997, Clinton received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her audio recording of the book. In 2005, Senator Rick Santorum wrote a rebuttal to the book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good.

The book emphasizes the shared responsibility that society has for successfully raising children, by looking at a number of angles as indicated in the chapter titles noted above. Clinton describes herself in the book as a Moderate, which is evidenced by a combination of advocating for government driven social reforms while also espousing conservative values. Clinton notes in the book many institutions responsible in some way for raising children, including: direct family, grandparents, neighbors, teachers, ministers, doctors, employers, politicians, nonprofits, faith communities, businesses, and international governmental groups. Some of the goals and institutions that Clinton advocates for in the book include: the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, Community Policing, the Brady Bill, Amber Alerts, immunizations, State Children's Health Insurance Program, financial regulation, expanded Child Tax Credits, Minimum Wage increases, Universal health care, personal responsibility, uniforms in schools, Goals 2000 academic framework, music warning labels, sexual abstinence, Plan B contraception, family planning, and marriage.

The book's title is attributed to an African proverb: "It takes a village to raise a child." The saying and its attribution as an "African" proverb were in circulation before it was adopted by Clinton as the source for the title of her book. Indeed, the saying previously provided the source for the title of a children's book entitled It Takes a Village by Jane Cowen Fletcher, published in 1994. The authenticity of the proverb is debatable as there is no evidence that this precise proverb genuinely originated with any African culture. In 2016, NPR decided to research the origins of the proverb, and concluded it was unable to pinpoint its origins, but agreed with the H Net discussion regarding it holding the true spirits of some African cultures. It was part of a class of such attributed sayings, with one observer stating, "If someone starts an aphorism with 'there's an African saying' it's probably a mythical quote misattributed to a whole continent." When the book was first announced in April 1995, The New York Times reported publisher Simon & Schuster as saying "The book will actually be written by Barbara Feinman, a journalism professor at Georgetown University in Washington. Ms. Feinman will conduct a series of interviews with Mrs. Clinton, who will help edit the resulting text." Feinman spent seven months on the project and was paid $120,000 for her work. Feinman, however, was not mentioned anywhere in the book. Clinton's acknowledgment section began: "It takes a village to bring a book into the world, as everyone who has written one knows. Many people have helped me to complete this one, sometimes without even knowing it. They are so numerous that I will not even attempt to acknowledge them individually, for fear that I might leave one out." During her promotional tour for the book, Clinton said, "I actually wrote the book I had to write my own book because I want to stand by every word." In 2001, The Wall Street Journal reported that "New York literary circles are buzzing with vitriol over Sen. Clinton's refusal, so far, to share credit with any writer who helps on her book." Later, in a 2002 article for The Writer's Chronicle, Barbara Feinman Todd (now using her married name) related that the project with Clinton had gone smoothly, producing drafts in a round robin style. Feinman agrees that Clinton was involved with the project, but also states that, "Like any first lady, Mrs. Clinton had an extremely hectic schedule and writing a book without assistance would have been logistically impossible." Feinman reiterates that her only objection to the whole process was the lack of any acknowledgement. A 2005 Georgetown University web page bio for Barbara Feinman Todd states that It Takes a Village was one of "several high profile books" that she has "assisted, as editor, writer and researcher." Feinman Todd wrote more about the collaboration in her 2017 memoir Pretend I'm Not Here.

In 2006, It Takes a Village was republished as a 10th Anniversary Edition with a new cover design and a new Introduction by the author that reflected on the continued meaning of the book in the Internet era and following the September 11 attacks. It also includes a new Notes section at the end that provides updates for scholarly studies that had been conducted in the intervening ten years. The role of Feinman remains unmentioned. Clinton did not shy away from the book's conclusions during her post First Lady political career. As part of her own presidential campaign during 2007 she said "I still believe it takes a village to raise a child." And in her second presidential campaign during 2015 she said "Fundamentally, [Republicans] reject what it takes to build an inclusive economy. It takes an inclusive society. What I once called 'a village' that has a place for everyone."

The year 2017 saw public efforts under way to render It Takes as a picture book, an announcement that was made in February 2017. It was also announced that Marla Frazee, a two time winner of the Caldecott Medal, would be the illustrator for the picture book; Frazee said in a statement, "I am deeply honored to help bring Hillary Clinton's life's work and devotion to public service, which has inspired me and millions of others, to children and those who love them." A review of the book in the industry publication Shelf Awareness said that the picture book took a somewhat different perspective from the original, focusing more on the actions of children than of adults.

The book is parodied in Tim Wilson's 1999 song "It Takes a Village to Raise a Nut".