Bill Clinton’s presidency during a self-described time of, “a paradigm shift . . . from the industrial age to an information-technology age, from the Cold War to a global society,” will be addressed at a public book talk to be held Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016, at Robertson Hall, Dodds Auditorium, on the Princeton University campus. The event is free and open to the public.

“Bill Clinton: New Gilded Age President” will be presented by author and Boston College history professor, Patrick J. Maney. A book sale and signing will follow the discussion.

In the book, the author contends that while political divisiveness and polarization in the country’s capital had been around for decades, it was during the Clinton administration that it began to flourish. "The seeds had been sown in previous decades but didn't start blooming until the 1990s," says Maney. "This is when Washington politics became a blood sport, with its 'take no prisoners' mentality."

John Milton Cooper, Jr., author of “Woodrow Wilson: A Biography,” states,“This is a truly remarkable book. Patrick Maney gives us a penetrating, comprehensive, and thoroughly balanced account of the Clinton presidency, along with a shrewd, insightful assessment of the character of this fascinating and often infuriating denizen of the White House. This book will stand as the gold standard of works on this man and his era."

Maney teaches modern American history with an emphasis on politics and the presidency. He has written biographies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and New Deal Senator Robert La Follette, Jr., one of the most prominent U.S. senators of the 1930s and 1940s until his defeat by Joseph McCarthy.

He has served as dean of Boston College's College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and as chair of the history departments at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and Tulane University in New Orleans. He has appeared on public television, C-SPAN and National Public Radio.