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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Great book on Nixon's conduct in office, helped along by declassified documents and released tapes not available to contemporary accounts.
Amazing how much the Vietnam War was a madness rune for both LBJ and Nixon, feeding their worst instincts and creating the impression they were under siege. Just a complete total impotence of power unlike anything else in their experience. And for Nixon, in particular, the Vietnam paranoia directly led to the Watergate paranoia, connected by the Ellsberg break-in and much more.
It's a great book, but just go in knowing it doesn't cover much outside the White House, disregarding the political for the procedural. Still, great for girding books on the other subjects since it's pretty recent, and has a lot of documentary evidence unavailable to earlier authors.
Amazing how much the Vietnam War was a madness rune for both LBJ and Nixon, feeding their worst instincts and creating the impression they were under siege. Just a complete total impotence of power unlike anything else in their experience. And for Nixon, in particular, the Vietnam paranoia directly led to the Watergate paranoia, connected by the Ellsberg break-in and much more.
It's a great book, but just go in knowing it doesn't cover much outside the White House, disregarding the political for the procedural. Still, great for girding books on the other subjects since it's pretty recent, and has a lot of documentary evidence unavailable to earlier authors.
While I enjoyed the history, this book is mostly dialogue from the Nixon tapes and journal entry quotes without a whole lot of explanation or interpretation. In essence if you want to read a book where someone has arranged the documentation in a sensical chronological order, this is for you.
Decent to good overall, but no more than that. Probably a 3.5 star, but since the Goodreads average is over 4, I rounded down.
It does have a good updated basic overview of the Nixon White House, updated after the release of new tapes of his and grand jury testimony.
But, it's only basic. Surely, it could have been better than this. Others note "quick and dirty."
I really didn't learn anything new about Watergate. I did learn bits new about Vietnam, or more explicitly, the illegal attacks into Laos and Cambodia. And, some things from any basic account of the Nixon years, like the Allende assassination, aren't here.
Also, Weiner came off as an unrepentant Cold Warrior in his introduction. That was likely going to lose it a star right there.
He also has historical errors here and there. The biggest, off the top of my head, is claiming executive privilege started with Ike or Truman. Nope. Try George Washington. The House wanted papers from Jay Treaty negotiations and he refused because only the Senate is involved in treaties. Any good bio of Jefferson will tell you that, re Aaron Burr and other things, he strongly invoked executive privilege.
It does have a good updated basic overview of the Nixon White House, updated after the release of new tapes of his and grand jury testimony.
But, it's only basic. Surely, it could have been better than this. Others note "quick and dirty."
I really didn't learn anything new about Watergate. I did learn bits new about Vietnam, or more explicitly, the illegal attacks into Laos and Cambodia. And, some things from any basic account of the Nixon years, like the Allende assassination, aren't here.
Also, Weiner came off as an unrepentant Cold Warrior in his introduction. That was likely going to lose it a star right there.
He also has historical errors here and there. The biggest, off the top of my head, is claiming executive privilege started with Ike or Truman. Nope. Try George Washington. The House wanted papers from Jay Treaty negotiations and he refused because only the Senate is involved in treaties. Any good bio of Jefferson will tell you that, re Aaron Burr and other things, he strongly invoked executive privilege.
It was less an analysis of why Nixon's presidency was a tragedy (or why Nixon, the man, was tragic) than it was a straightforward retelling of the Vietnam / Watergate portions of Nixon's presidency.
Being born in the late 1970's I didn't really remember hearing about Nixon until I was around 10 from my father. He would refer to him as Tricky Dick and call him a crook. So after that I just assumed he was without doing much reading on Nixon myself. I thought this book from Tim Weiner gave a very good overview of what was going on in the Nixon White house during his two terms. From all of the spying they performed on their "enemies" to his efforts to form better relations with China. These were definitely some scary times in the US and T. Weiner talks about some of these instances were Nixon was out of pocket (usually for drinking too much). Even thought I though T. Weiner was a little biased towards the negative on Nixon, I think this book is valuable for someone who wants to learn more about the going on's in the Nixon White House.
I received this book for free as part of the History Book Club discussion on Goodreads.
I received this book for free as part of the History Book Club discussion on Goodreads.
Richard Nixon was a legitimately terrifying human being. Triply so because he was president. I never figured him for a super great guy, but the Nixon depicted in this book is clinically paranoid, petty and far more vindictive than he has any right to be. You need a little background for this book, which is the only reason I left off a star - it's an accounting of the secrets that have come out of Nixon's presidency only in this millennium as the secret tapes and documents have been made public.
In a weird way, Nixon was right: It's far better for the United States that the things he did, said and thought were kept from people. However, the ultimate tragedy (for Nixon, sure, but for the rest of us as well) is that it's only true because Nixon was given power - if he weren't so awful, we wouldn't have needed the secrecy.
In a weird way, Nixon was right: It's far better for the United States that the things he did, said and thought were kept from people. However, the ultimate tragedy (for Nixon, sure, but for the rest of us as well) is that it's only true because Nixon was given power - if he weren't so awful, we wouldn't have needed the secrecy.
informative
medium-paced
A searing indictment of Nixon's presidency, especially in regards to his conduct on Vietnam and Watergate.
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of reading and reviewing this book on Goodreads and taking part in an online discussion about it with the History Book Club here on Goodreads. Aside from the free copy, I have not received any other remuneration for my opinions and the views expressed below reflect my own and not that of the publisher or author.)
The narrative of Richard Nixon's presidency has always had a dichotomous nature to it. Some tell it as a proud and intelligent, but extremely introverted and awkward man, who hired bad men to do things he did not intend for them to do. [bc:Being Nixon: A Man Divided|25241663|Being Nixon A Man Divided|Evan Thomas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1427791025s/25241663.jpg|44848456] by [ai:Evan Thomas|7112|Evan Thomas|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1269306859p2/7112.jpg][a:Evan Thomas|7112|Evan Thomas|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1269306859p2/7112.jpg] is the most recent example of this. Others tell it as an extremely devious and Machiavellian figure who cared not one whit for the law or the American people, but only in preserving his own power. This book falls into the latter category. What sets this book apart from all others that have gone before it though is that the author had full access to ALL of Nixon's tapes and documents, some of which have only been declassified within the last year. It is perhaps the most shocking revelatory depiction of the Nixon presidency you are likely to find anywhere. One of the most shocking revelations is that there was a general sense of conspiracy that pervaded this administration. For example, because the Joint Chiefs of Staff distrusted Nixon so much, they planted a spy on his staff in order to monitor his decisions. To me, this is just one of the first building blocks that could've led to coup had the Joint Chiefs believed that Nixon was about to damage their interests or the interest of the country as they saw it. It's a reminder that, even 239 years after we declared our independence, or liberties and democracy are just as fragile today as they were then. The access that Mr. Weiner has to all of Nixon's tapes and documents also means that this is probably the most complete record of the Watergate scandal available today. As revelatory as this book is, it sadly is not a very well balanced book though. Mr. Weiner seems to relish in tearing down Nixon and his administration. For example, nearly all historians, despite what they think about the Nixon administration as whole, agree that his opening to China as well as his attempts at detente with the Soviet Union were the best things to come out of this administration. And yet, Mr. Weiner can't help but criticize those too, like the fact that then National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger botched the joint original draft language of the U.S.-Chinese communique and had to renegotiate it with the Chinese before the next morning. This seems more like a typical bureaucratic mistake than anything else revealed in the book. Thus, it is accounts like that that sometimes give this book feeling of one big hit piece rather than just a negative, but fair, accounting of the Nixon years. Still, as I said above, the revelations from this book are worth the price of admission. However, I fear that the biography of Nixon that meshes the two Nixon, the awkwardly introverted, but highly intelligent statesman, and the Machiavellian gutter politician, into one seamless narrative has yet to be written.
The narrative of Richard Nixon's presidency has always had a dichotomous nature to it. Some tell it as a proud and intelligent, but extremely introverted and awkward man, who hired bad men to do things he did not intend for them to do. [bc:Being Nixon: A Man Divided|25241663|Being Nixon A Man Divided|Evan Thomas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1427791025s/25241663.jpg|44848456] by [ai:Evan Thomas|7112|Evan Thomas|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1269306859p2/7112.jpg][a:Evan Thomas|7112|Evan Thomas|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1269306859p2/7112.jpg] is the most recent example of this. Others tell it as an extremely devious and Machiavellian figure who cared not one whit for the law or the American people, but only in preserving his own power. This book falls into the latter category. What sets this book apart from all others that have gone before it though is that the author had full access to ALL of Nixon's tapes and documents, some of which have only been declassified within the last year. It is perhaps the most shocking revelatory depiction of the Nixon presidency you are likely to find anywhere. One of the most shocking revelations is that there was a general sense of conspiracy that pervaded this administration. For example, because the Joint Chiefs of Staff distrusted Nixon so much, they planted a spy on his staff in order to monitor his decisions. To me, this is just one of the first building blocks that could've led to coup had the Joint Chiefs believed that Nixon was about to damage their interests or the interest of the country as they saw it. It's a reminder that, even 239 years after we declared our independence, or liberties and democracy are just as fragile today as they were then. The access that Mr. Weiner has to all of Nixon's tapes and documents also means that this is probably the most complete record of the Watergate scandal available today. As revelatory as this book is, it sadly is not a very well balanced book though. Mr. Weiner seems to relish in tearing down Nixon and his administration. For example, nearly all historians, despite what they think about the Nixon administration as whole, agree that his opening to China as well as his attempts at detente with the Soviet Union were the best things to come out of this administration. And yet, Mr. Weiner can't help but criticize those too, like the fact that then National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger botched the joint original draft language of the U.S.-Chinese communique and had to renegotiate it with the Chinese before the next morning. This seems more like a typical bureaucratic mistake than anything else revealed in the book. Thus, it is accounts like that that sometimes give this book feeling of one big hit piece rather than just a negative, but fair, accounting of the Nixon years. Still, as I said above, the revelations from this book are worth the price of admission. However, I fear that the biography of Nixon that meshes the two Nixon, the awkwardly introverted, but highly intelligent statesman, and the Machiavellian gutter politician, into one seamless narrative has yet to be written.