Hillary Clinton's new memoir hits America's bookshops on Tuesday, and is being seen as a major stepping-stone on the former First Lady's path to declaring her candidacy for the US Presidency.
Mrs. Clinton is the widely-anticipated front-runner in the race for the Democratic Party's nomination to succeed Barack Obama.
But, as his Secretary-of-State, her record that has left her open to criticism especially over the attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
It's an issue she's confronting this week in a round of promotional interviews, as our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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It is called "Hard Choices"…. it weighs in at 656 pages….and in the long tradition of American political memoirs its mere publication is perhaps the surest sign yet that Hillary Clinton will soon be running for the White House.
But, in a slew of interviews this week, she says that's one "hard choice" she still has to make.
Here she is, talking to Diane Sawyer of ABC News.
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That decision is eagerly awaited by a slew of other potential candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination.
With polls showing that 7 Democrats in 10 will support Mrs. Clinton IF she runs…many of them are anxious not to show too much political leg on the basis that it would be futile to try and take her on.
But Hillary Clinton - who as First Lady, was a lightning rod for Republican critics - has her potential weaknesses.
And none of them is as large as the accusations that have dogged her since she exited the State Department: that as Secretary of State she didn't do enough to protect the US consulate in Benghazi.
It was attacked by Al Qaeda extremists on September 11th 2012, costing the lives of the US Ambassador and another American diplomat.
In her interview on ABC, Mrs. Clinton denies culpability.
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But questions about Benghazi won't go away.
Nor will questions about Bill and Hillary Clinton's marriage - in the book, she says she's "over" Monica Lewinsky…..or their wealth.
Between the two them, they've made more than $100 million just by making speeches.
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It's worth noting that Mrs. Clinton was facing questions there from an anchorwoman who herself is paid a reported $12 million dollars a year by ABC.
Hillary Clinton will be putting herself through many more such interviews in the days ahead….and quietly hoping that the book will become an instant best-
seller.
67 per cent of Americans tell pollsters they view her as a strong leader….now they'll get a chance to see whether they like her more or less by the time they've consumed her tome.
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