President Clinton's year of crisis, which began when his affair with Monica Lewinsky hit the front pages in January 1998, engendered a host of important questions of criminal and constitutional law, public and private morality; and political and cultural conflict. In a book written while events of the year were unfolding, Richard Posner presents a balanced and scholarly understanding of the crisis that also has the freshness and immediacy of journalism. Posner clarifies the issues and eliminates misunderstandings concerning facts and the law that were relevant to the investigation by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and to the impeachment proceeding itself. He explains the legal definitions of obstruction of justice and perjury, which even many lawyers are unfamiliar with. He carefully assesses the conduct of Starr and his prosecutors, including their contacts with lawyers for Paula Jones and their hardball tactics with Monica Lewinsky and her mother. he compares and contrasts the Clinton affair with Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, exploring the subtle relationship between public and private morality. And he examines the place of impeachment in the American constitutional scheme, the pros and cons of impeaching President Clinton, and the major procedural issues raised by both the impeachment in the House and the trial in the Senate.

波斯纳，1939年1月11日出生在美国纽约，1959年毕业于耶鲁大学获文学学士学位，1962年哈佛大学毕业后，即在联邦最高法院担任秘书工作，1963年转任美国联邦贸易委员会的委员助理。在这个主管美国反托拉斯法的机构历练了三年后，波斯纳又到美国的联邦司法部担任助理，1967年出任美国交通政策特别工作小组首席法律顾问，1969年到1978年在美国斯坦福大学和芝加哥大学任教。1981年，里根总统提名波斯纳担任美国联邦上诉法院的法官.