Watergate: A New History
- Downloads：3435
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-02-17 11:21:37
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Garrett M. Graff
- ISBN：1797131087
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Shoshana
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We got married on June 17， 1973， one year to the day after the break-in at the Watergate， and drove home to the MidWest from the East listening to John Dean calmly tell the Ervin Committee and the world about the rot at the center of our government。 I don't know if the shock and horror of what was revealed can adequately be conveyed to those who grew up afterwards， and who have lived through all or part of the subsequent half-century。 Trump and his GOP cult didn't come out of nowhere and nothing We got married on June 17， 1973， one year to the day after the break-in at the Watergate， and drove home to the MidWest from the East listening to John Dean calmly tell the Ervin Committee and the world about the rot at the center of our government。 I don't know if the shock and horror of what was revealed can adequately be conveyed to those who grew up afterwards， and who have lived through all or part of the subsequent half-century。 Trump and his GOP cult didn't come out of nowhere and nothing。 Richard Nixon and his accomplices broke something vital in America and it remains broken to this day。 The Nixon Administration remains the most corrupt in American history， rivaled only by that sink of corruption， Donald Trump。This book， "Watergate: A New History，" is terrific。 Garrett Graff is an excellent writer and this thoroughly researched tome explains a lot of things that even I， who thought I knew a lot about the period， either didn't know or had forgotten。 I found it very interesting that he started with the Pentagon Papers， as I had never followed those particular breadcrumbs。This is a dense book， filled with names， dates and places。 For someone new to the subject it might help to take the odd note-and some of those notes would end up very odd indeed。 The whole criminal enterprise is almost unbelievable， but it is all true。 This comprehensive accounting of such an important period in American history is essential reading， and I heartily recommend it。Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC。 。。。more
Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews
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Watergate to me is history。 I was born after the break-in at the Watergate hotel， but before Nixon resigned and have no memories。 Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review。 All opinions expressed are my own。Sometime after we got cable TV in my tweens， I saw a movie about the Watergate scandal starring Martin Sheen as John Dean， who worked in the White House and was the first to spill the beans on all the shenanigans going on there。 Watergate to me is history。 I was born after the break-in at the Watergate hotel， but before Nixon resigned and have no memories。 Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review。 All opinions expressed are my own。Sometime after we got cable TV in my tweens， I saw a movie about the Watergate scandal starring Martin Sheen as John Dean， who worked in the White House and was the first to spill the beans on all the shenanigans going on there。 About the same time I picked up a copy of All the President’s Men by Woodward and Bernstein ， the reporters who doggedly covered the story of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up。 Then I saw the movie based on the book starring one of my favorites， Robert Redford， and wondered what everyone else wondered: Who was Deep Throat， the high-placed official who was feeding the reporters leads and confirming facts they had uncovered。Fifty years later， Watergate: A New History attempts to provide the whole story for the first time。 It’s a meticulously researched story that starts in 1971 with the leak of the Pentagon Papers。 There’s deep deep background on this story， so much so that it’s not until 20% into the book that we actually get to the break-in at the Watergate。 Then the book really picks up。I think the weight of evidence， interviews and testimony does bog down the book at times， but then you realize to yourself， “Holy cow！” There were so many people involved in the crimes and cover-up surrounding the Nixon administration。 And I learned that the Washington Post was not the only paper doggedly covering the story。 They may have been the first and investigated thoroughly， but there were plenty of angles that other newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and New York Times picked up and uncovered more dirt。 It was interesting to find out that there was some creative license given to the book of All the President’s Men， and as we all know， the movie embellishes and changes things to make them more dramatic。Deep Throat outed himself in 2005。 He was deputy director of the FBI， Mark Felt。 I was surprised to learn that the White House knew he was the leak， or rather， the head of the leaks at the FBI。 Felt also used several loyal aides to contact various news outlets and confirm， deny， or provide new information or show them which directions the reporters should follow。 I was in the throws of motherhood （two toddlers and enrolled in university） when this information was released， so I didn’t know much about Felt or his side of the story。As I read this definitive history of a subject that changed the American Presidency， I could not get over the wealth of information available， from Nixon’s secret tapes to Congressional testimony to author interviews of subjects， to excerpts from the newspapers that covered the story as unfolded。 Disseminating that information must have taken the author years！I read this book in a few days because I was just approved for an ARC from NetGalley last week， but normally this is a book that should be given more time to absorb the enormity of the high crimes and misdemeanors that happened 50 years ago that brought down a president and changed journalism， and in truth， the whole country for all time。 。。。more
Vicky
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Very interesting excerpt from bookhttps://www。politico。com/news/magazin。。。 Very interesting excerpt from bookhttps://www。politico。com/news/magazin。。。 。。。more
Casper
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Professor Graff with the distance of time and the assimilation of new information a fuller picture can be known with the revelation of the identity of "Deepthroat" Mark Felt。 It truly was a smarmy time in America's History only rivaled by the recent past of 2020。 Graff of course had the intention to show that political scandal and the fragility of our Republic is not a new occurrence。 Professor Graff with the distance of time and the assimilation of new information a fuller picture can be known with the revelation of the identity of "Deepthroat" Mark Felt。 It truly was a smarmy time in America's History only rivaled by the recent past of 2020。 Graff of course had the intention to show that political scandal and the fragility of our Republic is not a new occurrence。 。。。more
Krista Rausch
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It is to our collective detriment that William Shakespeare had not lived long enough to pen the Tragedy of Richard Nixon。 Nixon is no Hamlet， to be sure， but a story where a paranoid， power-hungry leader is imbued with the spirit of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth？ Where literally 10 different people could be a stand-in for Falstaff？ Where the president and Henry Kissinger engage in a delicate tete-a-tete like two star-crossed lovers doomed to fail？ Sign me — and every 12th grade English teacher a It is to our collective detriment that William Shakespeare had not lived long enough to pen the Tragedy of Richard Nixon。 Nixon is no Hamlet， to be sure， but a story where a paranoid， power-hungry leader is imbued with the spirit of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth？ Where literally 10 different people could be a stand-in for Falstaff？ Where the president and Henry Kissinger engage in a delicate tete-a-tete like two star-crossed lovers doomed to fail？ Sign me — and every 12th grade English teacher across the country — up。Still， even without a literary makeover， the narrative that was Richard Nixon’s presidency — not to mention his decades of public life before and ignominy after – is one of our great modern tales。 There have been many fine books written about Nixon， Watergate and “All” of his “Men，” but Garrett Graff’s Watergate: A New History is poised to become the definitive book about his rise to the White House and incredible fall from it。 For Graff， Watergate is not merely the scandal that started with a bungled DNC office burglary， but the culture of an Administration with no precedent in American history， and he expertly weaves together decades of research into a Dickensian epic spanning from the Chennault Affair to the spy games of the inscrutable Howard Hunt and G。 Gordon Liddy to the tireless work of prosecutors and the Saturday Night Massacre and， finally， to those batshit crazy tapes。Of course， even with great material， a comprehensive history of any subject could be an unbearable slog without the right guide， but Graff’s steady hands make Watergate: A New History a page-turner。 When you crack the spine on this book， you already know how the story ends， but the ride is so [expletive deleted] exhilarating。Thanks to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review。 。。。more
Brandon Westlake
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