5/19/2023 0 Comments Before the storm goldwaterBut coverage of his early years is far too rapid to serve as a meaningful introduction to his life. The book begins in earnest with colorful coverage of the 1965 Watts riots, and Perlstein soon peers back in time to back-fill important details of Nixon’s early life. It is a contention not easily dismissed, but many readers will appreciate that there is nothing new about America’s polarized politics (or culture). Perlstein’s overarching thesis, tying together two parallel narratives involving American society and Nixon himself, is that Richard Nixon masterfully recognized, exploited and magnified cultural divisions which then persisted long past his presidency. Divided into four broad sections (corresponding to the national elections in 1966, 1968, 19) this book explores social trends and unrest deriving largely from Vietnam and racial tensions. Readers will quickly discover that “Nixonland” is more a cultural and social history of the United States than a biography of Nixon. Perlstein is currently working on a fourth book in this series on America’s political and social fabric. Perlstein’s most recent book “ The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan” picks up where “Nixonland” ends. His first book “ Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus” explores American culture in the 1960s. Historian and journalist Rick Perlstein’s widely-praised “ Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America” was published in 2008.
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