Watergate

From one of our most esteemed historical novelists, a remarkable retelling of the Watergate scandal, as seen through a kaleidoscope of its colorful perpetrators and investigators. For all the monumental documentation that Watergate generated--uncountable volumes of committee records, court transcripts, and memoirs--it falls at last to a novelist to perform the work of inference (and invention) that allows us to solve some of the scandal's greatest mysteries (who "did" erase those eighteen-and-a-half minutes of tape?) and to see this gaudy American catastrophe in its human entirety. In "Watergate, "Thomas Mallon conveys the drama and high comedy of the Nixon presidency through the urgent perspectives of seven characters we only thought we knew before now, moving readers from the private cabins of Camp David to the klieg lights of the Senate Caucus Room, from the District of Columbia jail to the Dupont Circle mansion of Theodore Roosevelt's sharp-tongued ninety-year-old daughter ("The clock is dick-dick-dicking"), and into the hive of the Watergate complex itself, home not only to the Democratic National Committee but also to the president's attorney general, his recklessly loyal secretary, and the shadowy man from Mississippi who pays out hush money to the burglars. Praised by Christopher Hitchens for his "splendid evocation of Washington," Mallon achieves with "Watergate "a scope and historical intimacy that surpasses even what he attained in his previous novels, as he turns a "third-rate burglary" into a tumultuous, first-rate entertainment.

About the Author :
Thomas Mallon is the author of eight novels, including" Henry and Clara, Dewey Defeats Truman, " and "Fellow Travelers, "and seven works of nonfiction. He is a frequent contributor to "The New Yorker" and "The New York Times Book Review, " among other publications. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Review :
"This will be popular." -"Library Journal" "We're propelled forward and kept highly entertained by the colorful characters, the delicious insider details, the intelligence of the dialogue...What Mallon captures particularly well is the fundamental weirdness and mystery at the center of the scandal...It appears that Mallon's primary goal, one he achieves with great finesse, is to make the portrayals of his characters as believable as possible." -"New York Times Book Review " "In [Mallon's] practiced hands--this is not his first fling at historical fiction--the festering mess of 1972-74 becomes almost fun, actually funny, and instructive about how history can be knocked sideways by small mediocrities...Mallon uses his literary sensibility and mordant wit to give humanity to characters who in their confusions and delusions staggered across the national stage...let Mallon be your archaeologist, excavating a now distant past that reminds us that things could be very much worse. They once were."" -George Will, Washington Post """Watergate "manages to combine extensive research with the tools of fiction to provide a new perspective on an iconic episode in American history. It is sufficiently faithful to the facts to offer a compelling introduction for those who missed this astounding story as it unfolded in the early 1970s, and a fresh view for those who haven't thought about it in years..."Watergate "is the sort of book that will ensnare you in its web of intrigue...Mallon manages to deftly capture the peculiar mix of unbridled ambition, bumbling ineptitude, hubris, cluelessness and dishonesty that sparked such an all-consuming crisis in American government." -NPR.org "In this stealth bull's-eye of a political novel, Mr. Mallon invests the Watergate affair with all the glitter, glamour, suave grace and subtlety that it doesn't often receive. Written with the name-dropping panache of a Hollywood tell-all, it seamlessly embellishes reportage with fiction." -Janet Maslin," New York Times" 10 F "If ever a historical event was worthy of a comic novel, it's Watergate, and Mallon, with several outstanding historical novels to his credit (most recently, "Fellow Travelers"), has the skills to write it. What a cast of characters we meet!...Mallon writes with such swagger that it all seems new again. A sure winner, for its subject and Mallon's proven track record as a historical novelist, and because it's good." -"Library Journal" "Revisiting the history of the '70s with our favorite cast of characters...While billed as a novel, this book reads more like a documentary of a fascinating yet unlamented time." -"Kirkus ""It's a brilliant presentation, subtle and sympathetic but spiked with satire that captures [Nixon] in all his crippling self-consciousness, his boundless capacity for self-pity and re-invention...Mallon writes with such wit and psychological acuity as he spins this carousel of characters caught in a scandal that's constantly fracturing into new crises." "-Washington Post ""In this stealth bull's-eye of a political novel, Thomas Mallon invests the Watergate affair with all the glitter, glamour, suave grace and subtlety that it doesn't often get." "-New York Times ""Mallon, astute and nimble, continues his scintillating, morally inquisitive journey through crises great and absurd in American politics by taking on Watergate...Mallon himself is deliciously witty. But it is his political fluency and unstinting empathy that transform the Watergate debacle into a universal tragicomedy of ludicrous errors and malignant crimes, epic hubris and sorrow." "-Booklist, starred review ""Mallon would seem to have the right mix of historical understanding and fresh whimsy to portray the craziness that was Watergate." "-Library Journal Seasonal Roundup " "Within the framework of the true, Mallon also has to find the plausible, which he has done in satisfying ways... Mallon renders the era, the people and the place in viv