Former US Representative Clifford B. Stearns, a Florida Republican, fortuitously kept a daily diary during the 1998 impeachment of former President William Jefferson Clinton. In Clinton's controversial case, articles of impeachment addressed lying under oath about his inappropriate sexual contact with a White House intern and obstruction of justice after attempts to influence witnesses and conceal evidence. Organized into five semi-monthly parts, beginning in mid-August 1998 and ending on Christmas Eve, 1998, the book translates Stearns' gut-level diary responses into an articulate rendering of the sobering and difficult process of determining whether the behavior of America's chief executive warrants investigation and articles of impeachment delivered to the US Senate.

The impeachment chapters are supported by closing chapters exploring the US history of impeachment (Clinton is the second president referred for impeachment, and Trump the third). The back matter also contains a robust index and a generous number of appendices, including the Clinton Articles of Impeachment, personal and national lessons learned, notable debate speeches, historical arguments for and against the Clinton impeachment, and an analysis of how it may influence future impeachments, among other salient topics. The front matter includes a summary of Stearns' diary chapters, a Clinton impeachment timeline, and a Who's Who list of notable participants.

For readers who lived through the historic era, Stearns' narrative will spark memories and fill in knowledge gaps. However, readers unfamiliar with the era may find the narrative too brief, though it is a good place to start research with an insider's perspective that is at once reflective, factual, and highly entertaining. Stearns' insights emphasize the legal logistics and gravity of the impeachment process, addressing the pitfalls of partisan politics and the assessment of personal behavior. Stearns easily engages readers with his well-organized, descriptive narrative and dialogues that he participated in with other House members.

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