Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America [B1181]

2009 PB, 881-pages. Told with urgency and sharp political insight, Nixonland recaptures America's turbulent 1960s and early 1970s and reveals how Richard Nixon rose from the political grave to seize and hold the presidency. Perlstein's epic account begins in the blood and fire of the 1965 Watts riots, nine months after Lyndon Johnson's historic landslide victory over Barry Goldwater appeared to herald a permanent liberal consensus in the United States. Yet the next year, scores of liberals were tossed out of Congress, America was more divided than ever, and a disgraced politician was on his way to a shocking comeback: Richard Nixon. Between 1965 and 1972, America experienced no less than a second civil war. Out of its ashes, the political world we know now was born. It was the era not only of Nixon, Johnson, Spiro Agnew, Hubert H. Humphrey, George McGovern, Richard J. Daley, and George Wallace but Abbie Hoffman, Ronald Reagan, Angela Davis, Ted Kennedy, Charles Manson, John Lindsay, and Jane Fonda. There are tantalizing glimpses of Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Jesse Jackson, John Kerry, and even of two ambitious young men named Karl Rove and William Clinton -- and a not so ambitious young man named George W. Bush. In November 1972, Nixon, harvesting the bitterness and resentment born of America's turmoil, was reelected in a landslide even bigger than Johnson's 1964 victory, not only setting the stage for his dramatic 1974 resignation but defining the terms of the ideological divide that characterizes America today. Filled with prodigious research and driven by a powerful narrative, Rick Perlstein's magisterial account of how America divided confirms his place as one of our country's most celebrated historians.

From the many recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "America is a divided country. Each side sees the other as the enemy. There is civil unrest. The country is led by an insecure, power-hungry president who sees the rifts in society and amplifies them, using division as a tool to strengthen his hold on power. He attacks the press, who he believes are "out to get him" and bans reporters from the White House. His administration is filled with loyalists, chosen not for their qualifications but for their unwavering allegiance to him. When citizens protest peacefully, he responds with force, ordering police to silence dissent by any means necessary. You might think I'm describing the political situation today. I'm not. This was Nixonland - half a century ago."; "I think what struck me the most as I read was the incredible parallels between that era and today. So much of the rhetoric and attitudes described- about policing, the divisions on the Left/Democratic Party, etc - could also have been describing our modern society. On the one hand, it gives me hope that if we got through that, we will get through this time; on the other, it shows how we've learned absolutely nothing from history as a nation."; "I loved this book. If Nixon was a fictional character, he would be my favorite super villain. Unfortunately he was real and the world is still dealing with the consequences of his presidency. Perlstein once again does a wonderful job of capturing the chaos of the era and giving a well-rounded depiction of the rise of good old Tricky Dick."; "Outstanding. A real treat. It did test my endurance, but it was worth the work."