Title: Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
Author: Rick Perlstein
First published May 13, 2008
881 pages, Hardcover
ISBN: 9780743243025 (ISBN10: 0743243021)
Rating: 4.22
Overview
Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America is an insightful journey through the turbulent 60s and early 70s, chronicling how Richard Nixon rose to power and held on to the presidency. Perlstein begins with the Watts riots in 1965, which shattered the illusion of a permanent liberal consensus after Johnson’s landslide victory over Goldwater.
In the following year, scores of liberals were thrown out of Congress, and America became more divided than ever. Perlstein’s account of America’s second civil war between 1965 and 1972 is an eye-opening exploration of how today’s political world was born.
The book features notable figures like Nixon, Johnson, Agnew, Humphrey, McGovern, Daley, and George Wallace. It also includes glimpses of Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Jesse Jackson, John Kerry, Karl Rove, Bill Clinton, and George W.
Bush. Perlstein’s narrative is driven by prodigious research and tells the story of cataclysms like the Vietnam War, assassinations of Robert F.
Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The book highlights how Nixon manipulated the Democrats into warring factions with his Committee to ReElect the President, pledging national unity while governing divisively, and directing the Watergate cover-up from the Oval Office.
Perlstein’s Nixonland is a powerful and important contribution to American history that confirms his place as one of the country’s most celebrated historians.
About the Author
Meet Eric S. “Rick” Perlstein, an American historian and journalist born in 1969.
In 1992, he graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in History. He has written for various publications, including The Village Voice and The New Republic, and was a Senior Fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future until March 2009.
During his time there, he wrote about the shortcomings of conservative governance on their blog.
Perlstein is also a published author, with two notable works: Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (2001) and Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (2008). Before the Storm delves into the rise of the conservative movement and the Republican Party’s domination by it, despite Barry Goldwater’s loss.
Nixonland covers American politics and society from 1964 to 1972, with a focus on Richard Nixon’s journey to restore his political reputation and his successful use of societal resentment to rebuild the Republican Party.
In addition to his books, Perlstein has also written an article for the Boston Review on how Democrats can win. It was later published as a book called The Stock Ticker and the Superjumbo, accompanied by responses.
Editoral Review
Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein is a meticulously researched work of history that explores how Richard Nixon became president during one of the most turbulent eras in American history. The book was first published in 2008, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
It is a seminal work of history that has since become required reading for anyone seeking to understand the roots of modern-day partisan politics. Rick Perlstein is a well-known historian and journalist, and his previous work includes the critically acclaimed Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus.
In Nixonland, he turns his attention to the tumultuous years between 1965 and 1972, a time of profound social, political, and cultural change in America. Perlstein masterfully weaves together a complex narrative that encompasses everything from the Vietnam War, to the civil rights movement, to the rise of the counterculture.
At its core, Nixonland is a book about the fragmentation of the American political landscape, and the ways in which Nixon exploited those divisions for his own political gain. But Perlstein also explores the deeper cultural and psychological currents that were driving those divisions.
He provides a vivid account of the rise of the new right, and their embrace of a combative, tribalistic style of politics that has come to define American politics to this day. One of the strengths of Nixonland is Perlstein’s ability to capture the voices of ordinary Americans from that era, from anti-war protesters, to segregationists, to rural conservatives.
He provides a nuanced portrait of the different social movements that were vying for power in America during that time, allowing readers to see the world through multiple, sometimes conflicting perspectives. But the real heart of the book is Nixon himself.
Perlstein delves deep into Nixon’s psyche, exploring the personal resentments and insecurities that drove his political ambitions. He shows how Nixon was able to tap into the fears and anxieties of white, working-class Americans, and turn them into a powerful political force.
Perlstein’s portrait of Nixon is both insightful and unsettling, showing how his twisted psychology lay at the root of so many of the problems that plagued America during that time. Overall, Nixonland is a tour de force of historical scholarship.
Perlstein’s prose is engaging and accessible, and he manages to weave together a complex narrative without ever losing sight of the human beings at the heart of the story. He is a master at integrating historical context with psychological insight, and the result is a book that is both illuminating and engrossing.
Of course, like any work of history, Nixonland is not without its flaws. Some readers may find it overly long or dense, and there are moments when Perlstein’s analysis feels a bit schematic.
But these are minor quibbles in the face of such a monumental achievement. For anyone interested in understanding the roots of modern-day American politics, Nixonland is an essential read.
It is a book that will challenge your assumptions, deepen your understanding of history, and leave you with a newfound appreciation for the complexity of the human experience. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
