Arkansas Mischief, Jim McDougal
Arkansas Mischief, Jim McDougal
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Arkansas Mischief
The Birth of a National Scandal

Author: Jim McDougal, Curtis Wilkie

Narrator: Lloyd James

Unabridged: 12 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/03/2010

Synopsis

As Bill Clinton’s political and business mentor, Jim McDougal—with his knowledge of embarrassing real-estate and banking deals, bribes, and obstructions of justice—long haunted the White House. McDougal’s vivid self-portrait, completed only days before his death and coauthored by veteran journalist Curtis Wilkie, reveals the hidden intersections of politics and special interests in Arkansas and the betrayals that followed. It is the story of how ambitious men and women climbed out of rural obscurity, of friendships broken and lives.Anecdotes fall like bright coins from a raconteur’s rich purse, and the “Whitewater” scandal shown for what it was. Vintage political history, Arkansas Mischief is a southern tragedy with lessons for us all.

About Jim McDougal

Jim McDougal was, as he puts it, “just a guy caught up in the Clinton tornado.” Earlier he had managed J. William Fulbright’s senate campaigns. Before he was old enough to vote, he masterminded JFK’s presidential campaign victory in a state with decidedly anti-Catholic sentiment. Following Kennedy’s election, McDougal worked in Washington for Arkansas’ other powerful senator, John McClellan. A lifelong populist (and part-time rogue entrepreneur), Jim McDougal was convicted on eighteen counts of banking fraud. He died in prison on March 8, 1998, at the age of fifty-seven.

About Curtis Wilkie

Curtis Wilkie has been a staff writer for The Boston Globe since 1975. Now based in New Orleans, Wilkie covers the South and national politics for the Globe. He has written for George, the Nation, the New Republic, the New York Times Book Review, Playboy, and other publications.

About Lloyd James

Lloyd James (a.k.a. Sean Pratt) has been a working professional actor in theater, film, television, and voice-overs for more than thirty years. He has narrated over one thousand audiobooks and won numerous Earphones Awards and nominations for the Audie Award and the Voice Arts Award. He holds a BFA degree in acting from Santa Fe University, New Mexico. 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Stuart on June 17, 2021

I watched a lot of TV news around the time that this scandal broke but I never really got what the scandal was about. I listened to the Audio book on Audible for free so I only invested time in this book. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. James B. McDougal led an interesting life and it was interes......more

Goodreads review by Sean on May 09, 2021

I chose this book because Curtis Wilkie is a great writer and a generally-likable person. If he felt ok writing Jim McDougal's jailhouse memoir, then I felt ok reading it. As far as political scandals and corruption go, the Whitewater controversy seems so quaint in 2021....but as a fan of backwoods......more

Quotes

“A lively and engrossing excursion through the Arkansas culture that spawned McDougal and Bill Clinton.” New Yorker

“His book shows more than anything yet written about Whitewater that the human drama of this scandal may outlast even its political effects.” Wall Street Journal

“An engaging and often witty memoir…a lasting testament to an elusive yet endearing man whose revelations threatened to topple the president.” Amazon.com

“Arkansas Mischief…is given a cool and measured reading by James.”  Booklist

“Lloyd James’ Southern accent and sober inflection reel us in.” AudioFile

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