Frost/Nixon: Behind the Scenes of the Nixon Interviews
by David Frost
Book Summary Information
Author: David FrostEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-11-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of Frost/Nixon: Behind the Scenes of the Nixon Interviews
Book Review: "I Gave My Enemies A Sword & They Stuck It In Me..."
Summary: 3 Stars
These words uttered by Nixon during the Frost interview not only goes directly to the heart of Nixon's psyche but also to the book itself. As the title of the book implies this is a book based on the March 1977 televised interviews of Nixon by David Frost.
In many ways this is a remarkable book that puts not only Watergate into historical perspective but also that of the Presidency and legacy of President Nixon. Frost makes several attempts at being even-handed by repeatedly making statements like "very few Presidents of the past century came close to Nixon's skill in foreign affairs or his ability to emphasize with the ordinary people." However, the book continually gets bogged down with irrelevant minutia and a tendency of the author to revert to a mentality of "Team Frost vs. Team Nixon"... who really won? This is no more evident than when it was noted in the book where Zelnick (who at the time of the Frost/Nixon interviews was a member of "Team Frost" and who currently is co-author of the this book) had implored Frost from the monitoring booth to "move in, tear the SOB (Nixon) to pieces". Certainly, this is not objective journalism. The reader is left with the thought "is this an interview or a debate?" Unfortunately, the "I got him" theme undercuts what should have been a fascinating look into the historically important Frost/Nixon interviews.
Ironically, the strength of the book lies in how Nixon overcame the stigma of Watergate; how he rose to the level of a respected elder statesman who achieved "peace with honor in Vietnam", a meaningful arms control agreement with one menacing Superpower (USSR) and normalization of relations with another emerging Superpower (The People's Republic of China).
In the end this is a book about thinly veiled contradictions-- praising, but mostly damning Nixon. Like this review, the book is a bit too verbose. But one walks away from this book thinking " Nixon gave Frost and Zelnick the sword... and while they may have not have stuck it in him they certainly drew blood".
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