Yet the New York publishing world yesterday questioned whether the book could deliver on its promises.

Discussions as to what the book might include have been conducted gingerly and with discretion from the outset, when Mrs Clinton invited publishers to talk about the proposed project.

"Vince Foster's name came up, Monica Lewinsky's did not," an editor for a publishing house that ultimately chose not to bid for the book told the Washington Post.

Added June 13 -
Washington Post - More Hype Than Hillary

My naive expectations for Hillary had to collide with reality. So it was, too, with feminists who wanted her to be what they wanted her to be. But like her, they were unsure. She should have left her marriage — be strong. No, she had to salvage her husband's administration and the feminist issues it championed — be strong. On the other hand, social conservatives knew what to make of her because they know precisely who they are, but not what century they're living in.

To all of them, Hillary kept moving in and out of roles. First lady? Presidential aide? Loyal wife? Abused spouse? Future presidential candidate? Please, Hillary, tell us who you are.

But how can she know? Why should she know better than the rest of us?

Added June 29
Maureen Dowd - has her say.

''Living History'' aims to bury questions, not raise hackles. Unlike Dan Quayle, Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush in their memoirs, Hillary Clinton does not emphasize tartly settling scores with rivals or the press — except for smacking Kenneth Starr, The Wall Street Journal over its ''spiteful'' editorials on Vince Foster that preceded his suicide and William Rehnquist for not curbing his ''ideological . . . partisan zeal'' with the Clintons and in the case of Bush v. Gore.