He says he wants people to know that much of what we understand about the New York senator and former first lady is a caricature, a two-dimensional cartoon of a brainy, emotionless warrior, a kind of Lady Macbeth of contemporary American politics.

And he has set out in 554 pages to detail the many shades of gray, the nuanced shadows and lights, the full color spectrum of human experience worthy of a political leader who might be elected to lead the nation, a person whose convictions about religion and family - devotions largely neglected in public discussions about Clinton - drove many of her actions in public and in private.

"You don't have to be the Soprano family shrink to see this is interesting," he said on the eve of his appearance tonight at King's English book store.

Bernstein and Washington Post colleague Bob Woodward won a 1973 Pulitzer Prize for their investigation of dirty tricks in President Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. He has visited Utah previously to speak at universities and, thanks to some enterprising Brigham Young University students, once met with LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball.

His fervor for A Woman in Charge is partly explained by his concern that our political system is broken, a reflection of a culture where media delights in the bizarre and lascivious at the expense of genuine understanding of political figures and ideas. The in-depth portrait seems intended as an antidote for what ails us.

No doubt, though, he also feels strongly about the book because of "the remarkable life" that was his subject.

Bernstein wrote the book over eight years, following President Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial on charges related to lying about his extramarital relationships. He interviewed more than 200 people, including Hillary Clinton's enemies and her adherents, and read everything about and by her.

Neither the candidate nor her husband would agree to speak with him for the biography. Still, Bernstein is able to tell about a girl whose father humiliated his family, whose youth pastor transformed her from staunch conservative to determined liberal, whose husband caused her to abandon her own ambitions for years and whose political skill was essential to the survival of her husband's political career and now her own.

His most surprising discovery? The influence of Methodist Christianity in driving her forward in politics and keeping her on track in life. Bernstein tells how the youth minister remained an adviser for two decades and how her Sunday teachings show "she was evolving a sophisticated politics that borrowed heavily from her spiritual notions."

As soon as she landed in Washington, he points out, she began meeting weekly with a women's prayer group that included such prominent Republicans as Susan Baker, the wife of President George H.W. Bush's campaign adviser and onetime secretary of state, and Joanne Kemp, the wife of former GOP Congressman Jack Kemp.

Her deep faith, according to Bernstein's portrait, stands in sharp contrast to how many conservatives characterize her: as an arrogant, ambitious political opportunist with a history of flawed decisions about Travelgate, Whitewater and a philandering husband, to name a few.

"You can't understand Hillary Clinton if you don't understand her religion and its place in her life," said Bernstein, who is a Clinton constituent in New York.

Would she be a good president? He won't say directly.

"If she were elected to the White House," Bernstein offered, "she certainly would come to the presidency with more knowledge about the presidency than any candidate in our history."

fahys@sltrib.com