Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America

Told with urgency and sharp political insight, Nixonland recaptures America's turbulent 1960s and early 1970s and reveals how Richard Nixon rose from the political grave to seize and hold the presidency. Perlstein's epic account begins in the blood and fire of the 1965 Watts riots, nine months after Lyndon Johnson's historic landslide victory over Barry Goldwater appeared to herald a permanent liberal consensus in the United States. But the next year, scores of liberals were tossed out of Congress, America was more divided than ever, and a disgraced politician was on his way to a shocking comeback: Richard Nixon. Filled with prodigious research and driven by a powerful narrative, Rick Perlstein's magisterial account of how it all happened confirms his place as one of our country's most celebrated historians.

About the Author :
Rick Perlstein is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan; Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, a New York Times bestseller picked as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by over a dozen publications; and Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, which won the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Award for history and appeared on the best books of the year lists of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune. His essays and book reviews have been published in the New Yorker, New York Times, Washington Post, Nation, Village Voice, and Slate, among others. He has received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for independent scholars. He lives in Chicago. Stephen R. Thorne is a member of the resident acting company at Providence's esteemed Trinity Repertory Company, where his favorite productions include Hamlet, Henry V, and The Cider House Rules. He lives with his family in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Review :
"Nixonland is a grand historical epic...This riveting book, full of colorful detail and great characters, brings back to life an astonishing era--and shines a new light on our own." -- "Jeffrey Toobin, New York Times bestselling author " "[Nixonland] cements [Perlstein's] reputation as a gifted and discerning historian. An exceptional work of excavation, synthesis, and storytelling, Nixonland derives its power partly from its resonance." -- "San Francisco Chronicle" "A compelling account." -- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)" "A great...book...It's a great gift for somebody who really likes the dark side of politics." -- "Chris Matthews" "A richly detailed descent into the inferno--that is, the years when Richard Milhous Nixon, 'a serial collector of resentments, ' ruled the land." -- "Kirkus Reviews" "Perlstein is a fine writer with a well-developed capacity for seeing irony and absurdity; his storytelling skills make this an absorbing book, full of surprising details." -- "Washington Post" "Perlstein is well known as a writer on the left, but his historian's empathies are intense and unpredictable: he convincingly channels the resentment and rage on both sides of the battle lines and lets neither Nixon's cynicism nor the naivete of liberals like New York mayor John Lindsay off the hook. And while election-year readers will be reminded of how much tamer our times are, they'll also find that the echoes of the era, and its persistent national divisions, still ring loud and clear." -- "Amazon.com editorial review" "Perlstein...is America's best living historian of the conservative movement...Myth after myth of the 1960s are punctured...It is bigger and better than ideology." -- "American Spectator" "Rick Perlstein has written a fascinating account of the rise of Richard Nixon and a persuasive argument that this angry, toxic man will always be part of the American landscape." -- "Richard Reeves, New York Times bestselling author of President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination " "Rick Perlstein's Nixonland digs deep into a decisive period of our history and brings back a past that is all the scarier for its intense humanity. With a firm grasp on the larger meaning of countless events and personalities, many of them long forgotten, Perlstein superbly shows how paranoia and innuendo flowed into the mainstream of American politics after 1968, creating divisive passions that have survived for decades." -- "Sean Wilentz, New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 " "The best book written about the 1960s." -- "Newsweek" "This sprawling, complex, well-written book is jam-packed with ideas and insights that will capture any reader's attention...Nixonland is a fascinating book that reads like a novel. Whether readers lived through the 60s or not, they will be gripped from start to finish." -- "Christian Science Monitor"