The Boy Next Door: My Sixty Year Friendship with Bill Clinton - Hardcover

by Carolyn Yedell Staley (Author)

The life of President Bill Clinton as seen through the lens of one who was his next-door neighbor during high school and who has maintained a close and uninterrupted friendship ever since, by maintaining a near-constant correspondence, serving roles in both his gubernatorial and presidential administrations, and having shared personal interests, especially music.

Back Jacket

Exemplifying the words from the 1983 song Friends Are Friends Forever, Carolyn Staley insightfully writes about a special friend who became President of the United States. In the years to come, when scholars and historians take in-depth looks at the life and work of
Bill Clinton, Carolyn's book will be a valuable resource.
--James L. "Skip" Rutherford III, Dean Emeritus, University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service

"Staley, a gifted storyteller, weaves a delightful tale of the intersection of politics and friendships with the melodies of memory and music. She draws on six decades of lived experience and shares the observations and lessons learned from growing up in Hot Springs, meeting President Kennedy at Girl's Nation, college teaching, leading the Arkansas Arts Council as a department head under Governor Clinton, employing her voice to celebrate Clinton's gubernatorial and presidential inaugurals, running for the state legislature, and a life of giving and public service. Throughout it all, Staley holds dear the role of music in everyday life, shaping her own experiences and of a growing friendship between her family and the Clintons - Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea. For presidential historians, Arkansas history buffs, and any intellectually curious citizen, this book is informative, insightful, and an easy read about events and relationships that would otherwise be unrecorded and lost to future readers and scholars. We are all in Carolyn Staley's debt for such a fascinating story well told."
--Stephen A. Smith, Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas

"In her fun, hard-to-put-down book that offers readers a fresh view of a much-chronicled figure, Carolyn Staley gets extra points for an unvarnished portrait of Bill Clinton. This funny, poignant, and full-of-surprises memoir is a platonic love story with the central character a young Bill Clinton, charismatic, brilliant, and ambitious, wanting to change the world. done. The Boy Next Door is a rewarding read, and one that confirms that the boy from Hope and Hot Springs never left them far behind."
--Janis F. Kearney, former presidential diarist, and author of Conversations: William J. Clinton: from Hope to Harlem, Daisy: Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and Only on Sundays: Mahalia Jackson's Long Journey.

"Carolyn Yeldell Staley was Bill Clinton's neighbor, classmate, confidante, and pal--Carolyn has been there since the beginning. I met her on my first trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas, in the summer of 1965. Her joy, her powers of observation, keen insight and extraordinary recall make this book essential reading for all of us FOBs as well as anyone seeking a deeper understanding of one of the towering political figures of our era."
--Tom Campbell, Bill Clinton's roommate at Georgetown University

Author Biography

Carolyn Yeldell Staley directed government agencies at the National Institute forLiteracy, the Governor's Commission on Adult Literacy, and the Arkansas Arts Council. She ran for AR State Representative in 2010. She has performed concerts worldwide. She chaired the Inaugural Dedication services for Governor Bill Clinton and his 1992 Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service. Carolyn is an ordained minister. She is married to photographer Jerry Staley. They are the parents of three young adults and grandparents of five.