Rating  - Did not live through this time? Then not a good book for you.
I found that too many times events were mentioned and the aftermath was surmised, but the actual event was never described. There were many assumptions made by the author that the person reading this book already knows the era.
Rating  - Important book for us over 50
Very interesting and important book for us over 50 that seek an explanation why the Western World became so quickly alient from year 2000 and onwards.
Rating - Now, More Than Ever
As a faithful reader of Digby's political bloc Hullabaloo, I was primed for "Nixonland" well before its release, and was not disappointed. If you like to wade more than knee-deep into the cultural history of a particular place and time, this is a great book to latch onto.
As a slightly narcissistic Baby Boomer, I am now obliged to insert myself into this review. I was a 12-year old paperboy when I had to get up at the crack of a rainy dawn to deliver our local newspaper's "Extra" announcing the foregone conclusion of Nixon's re-election. (My gloominess was somewhat offset by the fact that Republican Luther Hackett, who had been prominently depicted on TV and in the newspaper ads as being in the same room and chatting it up with Nixon, was roundly defeated for the Vermont governorship by the Democrat, Tom Salmon.) So, this book brought back some memories. (As fate would have it, our family was on vacation the first part of August 1974, so I didn't get to deliver the "Nixon Resigns" issue.)
Having never read much about the student revolts of the late Sixties, I was a bit surprised to learn just how violent and stupid they could sometimes be, which brings me to a better understanding of how easily Nixon, Agnew et al could exploit people's annoyance with (and fear of) them. Although Fox News has given "balance" a bad name, it's good to get a view of the 60s and 70s liberal vs. conservative divide that doesn't totally demonize one side or the other (and also has a convincing argument as to how it all came about). It doesn't hurt to have a historian who didn't actually live through all of these years, who can perhaps more easily take a sensible view of events.
Even though I think this book deserves five stars, I nonetheless can't resist a little carping. With the sheer volume of sources Rick Perlstein must have consulted, he may have understandably grown weary of the many words of uncritical praise for the martyred Robert Kennedy. This may explain why I don't recall reading a kind word about RFK in "Nixonland," nor anything particularly critical about his rival Eugene McCarthy, who has elsewhere been not so tenderly handled (perhaps by the same aforementioned praisers of RFK). And George McGovern is described twice as "pious as ever," which doesn't seem particularly fair to me. (Not surprising, though, considering McGovern was the only major party nominee in my lifetime so far whom I would ever have voted for enthusiastically.) And, although his name is spelled correctly elsewhere in the book, future printings would do well to eliminate the reference to "Jimmy" Hendrix.
Perlstein's first book, "Before the Storm," is inexplicably out of print and commanding high prices wherever copies of it are sold. I would recommend that book as well. If you can't afford the going price (approximately $98.00), there's probably a wonderful program at your local library called Inter-Library Loan.
Finally, I don't know if it's polite to do this, but I'd also recommend Bruce Miroff's recent book "The Liberals' Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party" for further insight on the '72 campaign.
Rating - excellent history of the 60's
This is perhaps the best history book I've ever read about the 60's. Rick Perlstein follows Nixon's career but most of the book is from 1964-1972. I was in college and during this time and Perlstein just nails the mood of the country during this time period. It always amazes me to remember how many historic events happened during these years. Perlstein helps to put it into a political perspective. Though he tends to lean toward the anti-Nixon side of that argument, I think, in general, he presents a fair case. Though Nixon did many great and good things in his life, he almost destroyed our country during his presidential reign. I think Perlstein somewhat misses how imperialistic Nixon was about the government he wanted. As bad as things may be during this Bush's administration (concerning our freedoms and rights), things were much worse during Nixon's terms. Anyone who wants to read a great history of this time period needs to read this book. The Vietnam war was raging, and so were the people. It was amazing how many of the same arguments for that war are being used today for the Iraq war. Apparently, the USA has troubles learning from its past.
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