Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
by Rick Perlstein
List Price:
Our Price: $2.20
You Save: $35.30 (94%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Rick PerlsteinEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-13
ISBN: 0743243021
Number of pages: 896
Publisher: Scribner
Book Reviews of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
Book Review: Perlstein Land
Summary: 3 Stars
Perlstein is a scion of the 60s. Through reading a lot of newspapers and mining a lot of television, he has constructed an imaginary world called Nixonland. Nixonland, like Hobbitland, exists in the mind of the fabulist. Perlstein has also reconstructed, in this same manner, many of the events of the 50s and 60s in fascinating and often compelling narrative detail. As a popular history of these times, Nixonland is an exciting and sometimes fresh read. As a paradigm for understanding America in the postwar era, the concept of `Nixonland' is extremely limited. The limitations of the concept are readily apparent, for example, in the race narrative that Perlstein grapples with throughout the book.
To conclude, as Perlstein does, that Nixonland `has not ended yet' is true but meaningless. Nixonland does exist, but not in the way Perlstin imagines. It is in fact the place where the 60s go to die. It is the remote magic mountain nursing home for those unable or unwilling to recover from the past, where the patients live in the twilight of a rapidly fading era. Most of the kids today don't visit the nursing home, except occasionally on grandpa's birthday, when he tells them stories of cities burning, John and Yoko in bed for peace, and `radical' philosophy be-ins, but leaves out the part where he took acid and ran half-naked in the streets before becoming a lawyer and moving to the suburbs. Nixonland is the same kind of invented place as John Ford's American West.
Had Nixon never become president, the arc of his career would have still held some interest for historians, but he hardly invented the Orthogonians versus Franklins (Perlstein's rhubric) conflict, a theme that has been salient throughout American history. Nixon was one player in the postwar drama, and a fascinating one, skilled at exploiting social rifts for political gain, but hardly the master metallurgist forging a new social alloy. The subtitle of the book includes the phrase, `the fracturing of America'. It's hard to know what that means, especially after reading the book. Fractures, fissures, social conflict (think FDR and his `moneyed interests'), and violence have marked American life for centuries, driving the social dynamic of the country. Nixon is one variant of the venal, cynical, manipulative, and corrupt American politician. In this he has keen competition, including among those who achieved the presidency.
The book repays reading and one should anticipate with enthusiasm a further instalment where Perlstein will presumably draw out the picture of a fractured America.
More Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Newest Review
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Newest Review
Biographies & Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in A List For Republicans
Warren G. Harding (The American Presidents Series)by John W. Dean
Times Books; Published: 2004-01-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.35
Price in other shops:
The Autobiography Of Calvin Coolidgeby Calvin Coolidge
University Press of the Pacific; Published: 2004-09-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.75
Price in other shops:
Coolidgeby Robert Sobel
Regnery Publishing, Inc.; Published: 2000-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $59.99
William Howard Taft: An Intimate Historyby Judith Icke Anderson
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1981-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.06
Price in other shops:
William Howard Taft: Confident Peacemakerby David Burton
St. Joseph's University Press; Published: 2005-05-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.00
Price in other shops:
Theodore Rex (Modern Library Paperbacks)by Edmund Morris
Modern Library; Published: 2002-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops:
Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Downby Kaylene Johnson
Tyndale House Publishers; Published: 2008-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.49
Price in other shops:
John McCain: An American Odysseyby Robert Timberg
Free Press; Published: 2007-09-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Lifeby John McCain, Marshall Salter
Ballantine Books; Published: 2008-07-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.75
Price in other shops:
Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoirby John McCain, Mark Salter
Harper; Published: 2008-10-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.36
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensusby Rick Perlstein
Nation Books; Published: 2009-03-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.36
Price in other shops:
Netherland: A Novelby Joseph O'Neill
Pantheon; Published: 2008-05-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.64
Price in other shops:
The Post-American Worldby Fareed Zakaria
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2008-04-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear Warby Michael Dobbs
Knopf; Published: 2008-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.71
Price in other shops:
The Forever Warby Dexter Filkins
Knopf; Published: 2008-09-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.40
Price in other shops:
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White Houseby Jon Meacham
Random House; Published: 2008-11-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.90
Price in other shops:
Counselor: A Life at the Edge of Historyby Ted Sorensen
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Idealsby Jane Mayer
Doubleday; Published: 2008-07-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.50
Price in other shops:
The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired Americaby Thurston Clarke
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2008-05-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.56
Price in other shops:
The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008by Sean Wilentz
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops: