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icgerrard's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent exploration of how Nixon brought about his own downfall in an almost perfect classical tragedy.
allieeveryday's review against another edition
4.0
Picked this up because Matt and I went to see The Post, in which Richard Nixon tells his staff to ban the WaPo reporters from the White House, and realized I didn't really know all that much about RN. It was an engaging read, though I am not a history buff and so some of the references to other events went over my head. I enjoyed learning and sharing Richard Nixon Fun Facts with everyone I know.
lastidealist's review against another edition
5.0
He was profoundly intelligent and capable.
He was deeply insecure.
He was, electorally, undeniably successful.
He was devoid of moral scrupules.
He was a warmonger.
He was a peacemaker.
He was fascinating.
John A Farrell succeeds in the near-impossible task of bringing this enigmatic, contradictory and consequential figure to life.
To read this biography is to live with Nixon. It is a masterpiece.
He was deeply insecure.
He was, electorally, undeniably successful.
He was devoid of moral scrupules.
He was a warmonger.
He was a peacemaker.
He was fascinating.
John A Farrell succeeds in the near-impossible task of bringing this enigmatic, contradictory and consequential figure to life.
To read this biography is to live with Nixon. It is a masterpiece.
spinnerroweok's review against another edition
4.0
It surprises me how I can read different biographies about the same person, and each one finds something new to tell me. I really enjoyed this bio on Nixon. It was disjointed at times repetitious at times, especially at the end (post presidency) which tried to offer a lot of analysis while continuing the narrative. It was a bit confusing. But the rest of it was pretty solid.
mmoore94's review against another edition
4.0
Whittling a persons life down to only 558 pages is a hard thing to do and John A Farrell did a commendable job of it with President Nixon's life. Farrell was incredibly fair in his commentary on Nixon's actions in both his praise and critiques. He provided a fascinating look into Nixon's thought process and early life; highlighting many traits that would punctuate his political career all while keeping a rather neutral tone. Keeping these in mind he created an interesting portrait of how Nixon found and created a pathway to the Watergate Scandal.
I'm not so sure I would recommend this to someone looking for a larger picture biography of Nixon. Which is why I am giving it 4 instead of 5 stars.
Throughout the book I just felt that something was missing. When the book hits Nixon's presidency it begins to lose it's biographical feel. Given Nixon's tumultuous and strained relationship as Vice President with President Eisenhower I was surprised to see little mention of how Nixon and Agnew interacted with one another. How much was Agnew aware of what was going on in Nixon's white house? Details on his relationship with his daughters and Pat becomes practically non-existent, which would be fine if maybe it was addressed that it was non-existent or something like that. Instead I would just consider it a slice of Nixon's life and the political scene of the 50's-70's used as a way for the reader to think and reflect of the misbehavior's of people in Washington and what kind of rationale went into the justification of said behavior's.
I'm not so sure I would recommend this to someone looking for a larger picture biography of Nixon. Which is why I am giving it 4 instead of 5 stars.
Throughout the book I just felt that something was missing. When the book hits Nixon's presidency it begins to lose it's biographical feel. Given Nixon's tumultuous and strained relationship as Vice President with President Eisenhower I was surprised to see little mention of how Nixon and Agnew interacted with one another. How much was Agnew aware of what was going on in Nixon's white house? Details on his relationship with his daughters and Pat becomes practically non-existent, which would be fine if maybe it was addressed that it was non-existent or something like that. Instead I would just consider it a slice of Nixon's life and the political scene of the 50's-70's used as a way for the reader to think and reflect of the misbehavior's of people in Washington and what kind of rationale went into the justification of said behavior's.