Rick Perlstein

There are, at the end of 2022, somewhere between 250 and 300 full-length books in print concerning Richard M. Nixon and his times. Leaving aside his self-serving memoir, "RN," these books range from the very specialized (Joe McGinness' "The Selling of the President 1968") to the expansive and scholarly (Stephen A. Ambrose's classic trilogy, "Nixon"), and most are worth reading or at least skimming. (Obviously, with so many accounts, the details can become somewhat repetitive.) "Nixonland," by Rick Perlstein, is notable primarily for its lack of focus and its meandering style. In nearly a thousand pages, Perlstein essays to cover Nixon's life from his college days up to his re-election to the presidency in 1972. If the reader is looking for a fairly complete, easily digestible chronicle of America in the 1960s, the book may serve its purpose. If, on the other hand, one is interested in understanding how Richard Nixon affected American government and political history, one's time would be better spent elsewhere. Between the minutiae and the lacunae, Perlstein's account of what Nixon meant to America is very sparse indeed.

Perlstein has previously published volumes on Eisenhower, Goldwater, and Reagan. He will, in all probability, continue his uninspired, shallow chronicles of Republican politicians with a book on Donald Trump. Those of us who have read the preceding books will avoid it: there are far too many legitimate analyses and critiques of Trump, or Nixon, to waste time with fluff.

Not recommended.… (more)