Gail Sheehy
Encyclopedia
Gail Sheehy is an American
writer and lecturer, most notable for her books on life and the life cycle. She is also a contributor to Vanity Fair
magazine.
Her fifth book, Passages, was called "a road map of adult life". Several of her books continue the theme of passages through life's stages, including menopause
and what she calls "Second Adulthood", including Pathfinders, Spirit of Survival, and Menopause: The Silent Passage. Her latest book, Sex and the Seasoned Woman, reveals a hidden cultural phenomenon: a surge of vitality in women's sex and love lives after age fifty. She wrote a biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton
, Hillary's Choice. Her novel Middletown, America is being adapted as a TV miniseries.
in 1984; they adopted a daughter.
She attended the University of Vermont
where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega
sorority and received a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University
.
, a psychiatrist at the University of California at Los Angeles, who accused her of stealing from his work. The suit was settled out of court, with Gould receiving $10,000 and 10% of Sheehy's royalties.
and a woman named "Jennifer". Sheehy reported that Clinton complained that the media had made much about Gennifer Flowers
's affair with Bill Clinton
but didn't look into the Bush transgression. Clinton considered that portion of the interview off the record, but Sheehy disagreed.
Fact checkers for Vanity Fair alerted editor Tina Brown
to the potential problem, based on their review of the transcript of the interview, but Brown declined to take the quote out of the story and the quote was prominent in Vanity Fair's
news release about the interview, and the interview received wide coverage in the press, including front-page treatment in The New York Post and the New York Daily News
tabloids.
Cynthia Cotts, a fact checker, later wrote about the matter in the "Press Clips" column in The Village Voice
: "After reviewing the transcript, we saw that Hillary had clearly gone off-the-record before she talked about the 'Gennifer' rumors". Clinton later said Sheehy's reporting was "a garbled version of a private conversation", to which Sheehy responded: "I don't think you tell a journalist about a private conversation if you don't want to have it printed." Sheehy sent a written response to Cotts in which Sheehy at one point stated the entire interview was on-the-record, but then wrote, "I never agreed to keeping that outburst off-the-record."
review in The New York Times Book Review
and attacked in The New Yorker
, Slate
online magazine and by Cynthia Cotts in the "Press Clips" column of The Village Voice
.
Howard Wolfson
, press secretary for Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign, pointed to factual errors in the book. Contrary to what the biography asserted, Clinton's father did attend her graduation from Wellesley College, Wolfson said.
Some people quoted in the book said Sheehy represented their words inaccurately or changed the meaning of their words by taking them out of context:
Critics said Sheehy's book was inaccurate on these other small points:
Sheehy blamed some of the criticism of her book on the Clinton "attack machine". Ben Smith, in his blog at the Web site of The Politico
, observed that some of Sheehy's scoops on Clinton had been picked up by other journalists and used in their work. Smith wrote that "almost everything attempting to take a personal look at Hillary seems to go back to Sheehy ... [I]t may not be your sort of book but, for all its flaws, it does seem to be holding up." Carl Bernstein
in his biography of Hillary Clinton, relied on some of Sheehy's reporting (on her interview with Clinton's mother and on some letters she sent to an old high school friend while in college). A front-page story in The New York Times
on Sunday, July 29, 2007, was based on the same letters.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer and lecturer, most notable for her books on life and the life cycle. She is also a contributor to Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
magazine.
Her fifth book, Passages, was called "a road map of adult life". Several of her books continue the theme of passages through life's stages, including menopause
Menopause
Menopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...
and what she calls "Second Adulthood", including Pathfinders, Spirit of Survival, and Menopause: The Silent Passage. Her latest book, Sex and the Seasoned Woman, reveals a hidden cultural phenomenon: a surge of vitality in women's sex and love lives after age fifty. She wrote a biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
, Hillary's Choice. Her novel Middletown, America is being adapted as a TV miniseries.
Personal life
Born to Harold Merritt and Lillian Rainey Henion, her first husband was physician Albert Sheehy, whose surname she kept; they had one daughter. She married publisher Clay FelkerClay Felker
Clay Schuette Felker was an American magazine editor and journalist who founded New York Magazine in 1968. He was known for bringing large numbers of journalists into the profession...
in 1984; they adopted a daughter.
She attended the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega is a women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. Currently, there are 135 chapters of Alpha Chi Omega at colleges and universities across the United States and more than 200,000 lifetime members...
sorority and received a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Plagiarism lawsuit
Her book Passages was a national bestseller. A plagiarism lawsuit was filed against Sheehy by Roger GouldRoger Gould
Roger Gould, M.D. is an American writer, psychiatrist and leading authority on adult psychological development.In his book, “Tranzformaers” , Gould presents his view that adult psychological development consists of the “dismantling of the illusions of safety developed in childhood.” Gould’s theory...
, a psychiatrist at the University of California at Los Angeles, who accused her of stealing from his work. The suit was settled out of court, with Gould receiving $10,000 and 10% of Sheehy's royalties.
2004: 9/11 Commission controversy
The Art Science Research Laboratory, a New York-based group that examines news articles for factual accuracy, released a 65-page report based on an article Gail Sheehy published in The New York Observer on February 16, 2004, which was critical of the 9/11 Commission."To publicly accuse parties of potential criminal wrongdoing is serious and damaging. That the accusations were based on facts that were only later checked and proven wrong is especially egregious", Shearer wrote in the report. "The 9/11 Commission and specifically [Executive Director] Philip Zelikow were defamed."
1992: Vanity Fair article on Hillary Clinton
Sheehy's 1992 article on Hillary Clinton created a stir by quoting the First Lady mentioning rumors of an affair between President George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and a woman named "Jennifer". Sheehy reported that Clinton complained that the media had made much about Gennifer Flowers
Gennifer Flowers
Gennifer Flowers is a model and actress who allegedly had a sexual relationship with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Prior to Bill Clinton's presidency, she also posed nude for Penthouse magazine and was an actress in two films and one TV show...
's affair with Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
but didn't look into the Bush transgression. Clinton considered that portion of the interview off the record, but Sheehy disagreed.
Fact checkers for Vanity Fair alerted editor Tina Brown
Tina Brown
Tina Brown, Lady Evans, CBE , is a journalist, magazine editor, columnist, talk-show host and author of The Diana Chronicles, a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales. Born a British citizen, she took United States citizenship in 2005 after emigrating in 1984 to edit Vanity Fair...
to the potential problem, based on their review of the transcript of the interview, but Brown declined to take the quote out of the story and the quote was prominent in Vanity Fair's
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
news release about the interview, and the interview received wide coverage in the press, including front-page treatment in The New York Post and the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
tabloids.
Cynthia Cotts, a fact checker, later wrote about the matter in the "Press Clips" column in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
: "After reviewing the transcript, we saw that Hillary had clearly gone off-the-record before she talked about the 'Gennifer' rumors". Clinton later said Sheehy's reporting was "a garbled version of a private conversation", to which Sheehy responded: "I don't think you tell a journalist about a private conversation if you don't want to have it printed." Sheehy sent a written response to Cotts in which Sheehy at one point stated the entire interview was on-the-record, but then wrote, "I never agreed to keeping that outburst off-the-record."
Biography of Hillary Clinton
Hillary's Choice, Sheehy's 1999 biography of Hillary Clinton, was praised by The New York Observer, given a damned-with-faint-praiseDamn with faint praise
Damn with faint praise is an English idiom for words that effectively condemn by seeming to offer praise which is too moderate or marginal to be considered praise at all...
review in The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
and attacked in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
online magazine and by Cynthia Cotts in the "Press Clips" column of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
.
Howard Wolfson
Howard Wolfson
Howard Wolfson is counselor to the Mayor of New York City and a Democratic political strategist. He replaced Kevin Sheekey as Deputy Mayor of New York City for governmental affairs....
, press secretary for Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign, pointed to factual errors in the book. Contrary to what the biography asserted, Clinton's father did attend her graduation from Wellesley College, Wolfson said.
Some people quoted in the book said Sheehy represented their words inaccurately or changed the meaning of their words by taking them out of context:
- Garry WillsGarry WillsGarry Wills is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and prolific author, journalist, and historian, specializing in American politics, American political history and ideology and the Roman Catholic Church. Classically trained at a Jesuit high school and two universities, he is proficient in Greek and Latin...
said he had described Clinton with the words "as charming as ever", but Sheehy changed that to "as Hillary as ever". Sheehy disputes that. - Betsey WrightBetsey WrightBetsey Ross Wright is an American lobbyist, activist, and political consultant who worked more than a decade for Bill Clinton in Arkansas. She served as chief of staff to Governor Clinton for seven years...
told The New York Observer that Sheehy took quotes out of context. In response, Sheehy offered to make the Wright transcripts available to journalists. - Tony PodestaTony PodestaAnthony T. Podesta, commonly known as Tony Podesta, is an American lobbyist best known for founding the Podesta Group. Podesta has lobbied for a variety of groups, including Bank of America, BP, and Egypt in addition to political campaigns such as Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, Michael Dukakis,...
said that, contrary to what the book says in a footnote, he was never interviewed for the book by Sheehy. Sheehy later said one of her researchers interviewed Podesta.)
Critics said Sheehy's book was inaccurate on these other small points:
- Al HaigAl HaigAlan Warren Haig was an American jazz pianist, best known as one of the pioneers of bebop.Haig was born in Newark, New Jersey...
didn't say he was in charge after Nixon's resignation. (He had notoriously made a similar statement just after President Reagan was shot.) - Mack McLartyMack McLartyThomas F. "Mack" McLarty III is a prominent Arkansas business and political leader and former White House Chief of Staff for US President Bill Clinton...
's marriage had not "collapsed". - Gene LyonsGene LyonsGene Lyons is a liberal political columnist and co-author with Joe Conason of The Hunting of the President: The 10 Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton, a documentary book published in 2000, with a supporting film. The book outlines a purported right wing campaign waged against...
was not a "well-known Arkansas novelist".
Sheehy blamed some of the criticism of her book on the Clinton "attack machine". Ben Smith, in his blog at the Web site of The Politico
The Politico
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
, observed that some of Sheehy's scoops on Clinton had been picked up by other journalists and used in their work. Smith wrote that "almost everything attempting to take a personal look at Hillary seems to go back to Sheehy ... [I]t may not be your sort of book but, for all its flaws, it does seem to be holding up." Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein is an American investigative journalist who, at The Washington Post, teamed up with Bob Woodward; the two did the majority of the most important news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations, the indictment of a vast number of...
in his biography of Hillary Clinton, relied on some of Sheehy's reporting (on her interview with Clinton's mother and on some letters she sent to an old high school friend while in college). A front-page story in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
on Sunday, July 29, 2007, was based on the same letters.