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It does a very good job of portraying his dirty tricks, the way he defamed his political opponents with lies and innuendo. Drew goes into useful detail about what happened around Watergate--we tend to forget the details--as well as Nixon's Checkers speech and other milestones. But the picture we come away with is of a very disturbed, unbalanced man, who had to be hidden away and protected by his underlings from causing great harm to the nation during his periodic breakdowns while he was presiding over the nation. I always like reading Elizabeth Drew's journalism, and this book does have her signature style and depth. But I did not enjoy the book very much, maybe because the subject itself is so unpleasant: Richard Nixon was a driven, miserable man, unfit to be President, however brilliant a political operator he was. One thing I hadn't known was how truly bad he was on civil rights and other liberal issues--he is sometimes thought of as the "liberal Republican"--dragging his feet on legislation and trying to scuttle it behind the scenes, and, when he couldn't get away with that, taking credit for its passage.The book chronicles Nixon's tireless attempts to make a comeback after his disgrace and resignation, and to go down in history as a statesman; and those efforts may prove to be partially successful.
Yet this particular book seem to have an agenda to lead readers in a negative direction. Nixon was in fact weak on domestic policy. While Nixon is a very flawed character in history, and some of his actions can be described as criminal. A book that makes accusations of chemical dependency loses credibility when it makes larger ommissions and factual errors. Readers with lesser knowledge might think this is a trivial note in Nixon's presidency while he spend most of his time conjuring up scandals. Obviously The American Presidents series is designed for school libraries more than extensive research. The tone of this addition to The American Presidents series shows a marked level of bias and gross errors that other reviewers have noted. However, the overall lean of the book brings in to question the truthfulness of these facts.
However, he was quite savvy in his foreign policy which comes easier to most presidents. Still adults can enjoy the learning experience. Given only this book to read, one might assume that Richard Nixon was a crazed man that accomplished little good for his country. A positive aspect of Nixon is rarely shown.Included in this brief biography are some facts that I did not know despite having read several books on Nixon and Watergate. Still, the author gives Nixon little credit for opening realtionship with China.
Indeed, one must confess the possibility that had he been able to continue his term in office, he may very well have done just that. Had it not been for his mistakes with Watergate, Nixon would be looked at today with admiration. Furthermore, I believe Richard M. I think Drew needs to take a history course. At one point, its claimed he couldn't get out of, or end the war in, Vietnam. I don't believe I've read anything more profoundly biased and angry against President Nixon. This is total BS because President Richard Nixon did, in fact, end the war in Vietnam. Nixon may very well have been looked at today as the best president in the history of this country as he was on the path to ending the Cold War.
Still she is somewhat sympathetic to Nixon but still holds him accountable for what he did which was wrong. All in all, I think this is an interesting addition to this series. The book is basically by the facts and you will not find anything new or explosive in it. Drew does a decent job of portraying someone as complex as Nixon. She has attempted to boil down the life of Richard Nixon into a few hundred pages. I have to give Elizabeth Drew credit for taking on a nearly impossible job. Thank of all the ink that has been spilled on him during the past 30 years and I will say Ms. I didn't find it particularly partisan but then again I believe Drew went out of her way to avoid offering up anything other than the generally accepted facts.
Complete disatisfaction - never received the item - never received a single response from several email requests as to why item has not arrived - very disappointed
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