One Man Against the World
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $27.99
Publisher Description
A shocking and riveting look at one of the most dramatic and disastrous presidencies in US history, from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Tim Weiner
Based largely on documents declassified only in the last few years, One Man Against the World paints a devastating portrait of a tortured yet brilliant man who led the country largely according to a deep-seated insecurity and distrust of not only his cabinet and congress, but the American population at large. In riveting, tick-tock prose, Weiner illuminates how the Vietnam War and the Watergate controversy that brought about Nixon's demise were inextricably linked. From the hail of garbage and curses that awaited Nixon upon his arrival at the White House, when he became the president of a nation as deeply divided as it had been since the end of the Civil War, to the unprecedented action Nixon took against American citizens, who he considered as traitorous as the army of North Vietnam, to the infamous break-in and the tapes that bear remarkable record of the most intimate and damning conversations between the president and his confidantes, Weiner narrates the history of Nixon's anguished presidency in fascinating and fresh detail.
A crucial new look at the greatest political suicide in history, One Man Against the World leaves us not only with new insight into this tumultuous period, but also into the motivations and demons of an American president who saw enemies everywhere, and, thinking the world was against him, undermined the foundations of the country he had hoped to lead.
Customer Reviews
The Nixon Presidency: The historical record to date
This book coherently knits together the all of documents that have been released to the public through 2014, including many heretofore-protected White House tapes. The picture that emerges is of a man oscillating between an unshakeable hubris, and the doldrums of a lifelong persecution complex - given too much power - and willing to compromise every ideal for the animal gratification of “winning”, however fleeting and insignificant the victory.
The real tragedy is that - far from serving as a warning to future administrations - Nixon’s fall merely marks the moment that Americans lost the innocence of their ideals, and began to demand less of their leaders. Towards the end, the author makes the case that the abuses of power that Nixon demonstrated only got worse under each successor’s administration. (And at the time of writing, the author could only reckon up until Obama!)
The reader lends a lively and confident understanding to the text. The difficulty in recording historical books, that are rich in quotations, is that one is tempted to “do the voices”. If you are willing to forgive vocal impressions of Nixon and Kissinger that sound like a small boy playing with political action figures, then the recording can be considered excellent.