A review by chicagoliz
Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage by Jeffrey Frank

3.0

I really would like to give this one 3 1/2 -- I vacillated between 3 and 4 stars. This was a good read, although it was a tad repetitive. I felt like I would have liked some greater depth -- detail and analysis of both Ike and Dick, but it was really focused just on their relationship with each other, which is what it purported to be. Just glancing through the book, which has 346 pages of narrative (that is, not including the index, notes, acknowledgements), you know right away that this is not a Doris Kearns Goodwin-esque tome. I've read quite a few other books that deal with Nixon and events that were happening during his political career, but I haven't read a biography of him, nor have I read one of Eisenhower, and having read this, I have a greater interest in reading more about both of them. I don't know that I could have really expected much more from this book, although I don't feel quite as satisfied as I have when reading some other books about some of our other presidents or US Twentieth Century history. All in all, though a solid enough book, and if you're interested in the subject matter (and reading this review if you're considering reading it), you'll likely enjoy it, and it's not a huge commitment like a DKG book.