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highestiqinfresno's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
professor_x's review against another edition
5.0
A former president of the United States is facing four indictments. Heâs also the only president to be impeached twice. As sad as these facts are, I also find them intriguing. Naturally I wanted to learn more about the subject of impeachment and about the president infamously associated with that word â Richard M. Nixon.
From what Iâve gathered from reviewers whoâve read other books on Watergate, itâs unanimous that this is considered the most comprehensive work available. Graff had access to troves of newly unclassified documents, letters, memos, notes, transcripts and other material. From this mountain of information, he masterly sculpts a narrative that, miraculously, is easy to follow. Thereâs a slew of characters involved â burglars, lawyers, counselors, congressmen, journalists, agents â enough to leave the reader boggled if it wasnât for Graffâs talented writing. The man is a wizard.
By the end of the book, I was thoroughly horrified. I had no knowledge of the illegal bombings of Cambodia or about the Chennault Affair â Nixonâs attempt to stall President Johnsonâs peace talks with Vietnam to end the war. Graff shows that Watergate wasnât some random, one-time incident; it was the culmination of other scandals and the lack of oversight that created an environment in the White House of dirty politics.
The book is a whopping 673 pages or so, not counting the notes and bibliography sections, but the book reads like a political thriller, and it was never a bog. A masterful work indeed.
********************************************************************
If I took one lesson from this work, it is this â you can never trust government. It is made of people, and people are greedy, jealous, power-hungry, conniving beings. Republican, Democrat â doesnât matter. It is the civic duty of a countyâs citizens to be skeptical and to never stop questioning the veracity of its government. Thanks to a free press, the Gordian Knot that was Watergate slowly unraveled.
From what Iâve gathered from reviewers whoâve read other books on Watergate, itâs unanimous that this is considered the most comprehensive work available. Graff had access to troves of newly unclassified documents, letters, memos, notes, transcripts and other material. From this mountain of information, he masterly sculpts a narrative that, miraculously, is easy to follow. Thereâs a slew of characters involved â burglars, lawyers, counselors, congressmen, journalists, agents â enough to leave the reader boggled if it wasnât for Graffâs talented writing. The man is a wizard.
By the end of the book, I was thoroughly horrified. I had no knowledge of the illegal bombings of Cambodia or about the Chennault Affair â Nixonâs attempt to stall President Johnsonâs peace talks with Vietnam to end the war. Graff shows that Watergate wasnât some random, one-time incident; it was the culmination of other scandals and the lack of oversight that created an environment in the White House of dirty politics.
The book is a whopping 673 pages or so, not counting the notes and bibliography sections, but the book reads like a political thriller, and it was never a bog. A masterful work indeed.
********************************************************************
If I took one lesson from this work, it is this â you can never trust government. It is made of people, and people are greedy, jealous, power-hungry, conniving beings. Republican, Democrat â doesnât matter. It is the civic duty of a countyâs citizens to be skeptical and to never stop questioning the veracity of its government. Thanks to a free press, the Gordian Knot that was Watergate slowly unraveled.
thecrimewriter's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
bargainsleuth's review against another edition
5.0
Watergate to me is history. I was born after the break-in at the Watergate hotel, but before Nixon resigned and have no memories. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an Advanced Readerâs Copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Sometime after we got cable TV in my tweens, I saw a movie about the Watergate scandal starring Martin Sheen as John Dean, who worked in the White House and was the first to spill the beans on all the shenanigans going on there. About the same time I picked up a copy of All the Presidentâs Men by Woodward and Bernstein , the reporters who doggedly covered the story of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up. Then I saw the movie based on the book starring one of my favorites, Robert Redford, and wondered what everyone else wondered: Who was Deep Throat, the high-placed official who was feeding the reporters leads and confirming facts they had uncovered.
Fifty years later, Watergate: A New History attempts to provide the whole story for the first time. Itâs a meticulously researched story that starts in 1971 with the leak of the Pentagon Papers. Thereâs deep deep background on this story, so much so that itâs not until 20% into the book that we actually get to the break-in at the Watergate. Then the book really picks up.
I think the weight of evidence, interviews and testimony does bog down the book at times, but then you realize to yourself, âHoly cow!â There were so many people involved in the crimes and cover-up surrounding the Nixon administration. And I learned that the Washington Post was not the only paper doggedly covering the story. They may have been the first and investigated thoroughly, but there were plenty of angles that other newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and New York Times picked up and uncovered more dirt. It was interesting to find out that there was some creative license given to the book of All the Presidentâs Men, and as we all know, the movie embellishes and changes things to make them more dramatic.
Deep Throat outed himself in 2005. He was deputy director of the FBI, Mark Felt. I was surprised to learn that the White House knew he was the leak, or rather, the head of the leaks at the FBI. Felt also used several loyal aides to contact various news outlets and confirm, deny, or provide new information or show them which directions the reporters should follow. I was in the throws of motherhood (two toddlers and enrolled in university) when this information was released, so I didnât know much about Felt or his side of the story.
As I read this definitive history of a subject that changed the American Presidency, I could not get over the wealth of information available, from Nixonâs secret tapes to Congressional testimony to author interviews of subjects, to excerpts from the newspapers that covered the story as unfolded. Disseminating that information must have taken the author years!
I read this book in a few days because I was just approved for an ARC from NetGalley last week, but normally this is a book that should be given more time to absorb the enormity of the high crimes and misdemeanors that happened 50 years ago that brought down a president and changed journalism, and in truth, the whole country for all time.
Sometime after we got cable TV in my tweens, I saw a movie about the Watergate scandal starring Martin Sheen as John Dean, who worked in the White House and was the first to spill the beans on all the shenanigans going on there. About the same time I picked up a copy of All the Presidentâs Men by Woodward and Bernstein , the reporters who doggedly covered the story of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up. Then I saw the movie based on the book starring one of my favorites, Robert Redford, and wondered what everyone else wondered: Who was Deep Throat, the high-placed official who was feeding the reporters leads and confirming facts they had uncovered.
Fifty years later, Watergate: A New History attempts to provide the whole story for the first time. Itâs a meticulously researched story that starts in 1971 with the leak of the Pentagon Papers. Thereâs deep deep background on this story, so much so that itâs not until 20% into the book that we actually get to the break-in at the Watergate. Then the book really picks up.
I think the weight of evidence, interviews and testimony does bog down the book at times, but then you realize to yourself, âHoly cow!â There were so many people involved in the crimes and cover-up surrounding the Nixon administration. And I learned that the Washington Post was not the only paper doggedly covering the story. They may have been the first and investigated thoroughly, but there were plenty of angles that other newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and New York Times picked up and uncovered more dirt. It was interesting to find out that there was some creative license given to the book of All the Presidentâs Men, and as we all know, the movie embellishes and changes things to make them more dramatic.
Deep Throat outed himself in 2005. He was deputy director of the FBI, Mark Felt. I was surprised to learn that the White House knew he was the leak, or rather, the head of the leaks at the FBI. Felt also used several loyal aides to contact various news outlets and confirm, deny, or provide new information or show them which directions the reporters should follow. I was in the throws of motherhood (two toddlers and enrolled in university) when this information was released, so I didnât know much about Felt or his side of the story.
As I read this definitive history of a subject that changed the American Presidency, I could not get over the wealth of information available, from Nixonâs secret tapes to Congressional testimony to author interviews of subjects, to excerpts from the newspapers that covered the story as unfolded. Disseminating that information must have taken the author years!
I read this book in a few days because I was just approved for an ARC from NetGalley last week, but normally this is a book that should be given more time to absorb the enormity of the high crimes and misdemeanors that happened 50 years ago that brought down a president and changed journalism, and in truth, the whole country for all time.
clarkeyhk's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyable and well put together. It managed to be well paced despite the complexity of the overlapping cases and investigations. Highly recommend, especially if you use X-ray on the Kindle to keep track of all the characters.
polo's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
One of the most engaging, fascinating non-fiction books I've read in a long while. I was hooked from the start and have become that annoying person who brings up obscure political facts about a scandal in a country I've barely been to in unrelated conversations. Sorry, friends.