RELATED LINK Book's author tells how she did her research

A new book on life inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue offers a grim portrait of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s dealings with each other coming off disclosures of the ex-president’s affair with Monica Lewinsky in 1998.

The book by Kate Andersen Brower, “The Residence,” relies on interviews with an extensive roster of butlers, ushers and other professional staff who’ve kept the White House up and running through the years.

These aren’t the sorts of folks who typically spill secrets, but Ms. Brower, a former White House reporter for Bloomberg News, pried out some nuggets that add to our historical understanding of first families from the Kennedys to the Obamas.