Nixonland

The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America

By: Rick Perlstein

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

Length: 36 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

From one of America's most talented historians and winner of a LA Times Book Prize comes a brilliant new account of Richard Nixon that reveals the riveting backstory to the red state/blue state resentments that divide our nation today.

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.

©2008 Rick Perlstein. All rights reserved. (P)2009 BBC Audio

Critic reviews

"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)

The Passion of the Nixon

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I recommend the time to listen, not only for finding out what happened then, but to understand where we are now. The story starts in 1965 in Watts and covers the riots. Get used to it, and Vietnam, and politics, and economics, and pop culture. Cap it off with the lens of Nixon and you have quite a tale. To his credit Mr. Perlstein , covers a veritable who's who of American politics. Darn, he blends urban planning in with race and culture to create a compelling epic. For what its worth.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Nixon is the good, the bad and ugly, all in one. Although, I have read very compelling Nixon biographies, it is the broad vistas he portrays, that makes Nixon so fascinating. While I recall some newer narratives that cover Nixon as a loving father, that is easily left aside here. If you want to know conflicts with Kissinger, and the fall of the Kennedy's this is the story. While Nixon was the only one who could go to China, his focus, and compartmentalization would lead to his downfall. Blackboard, and dirty tricks in one, loathing in another, how will we get this legislation passed, how are the hard hats doing?

Have you listened to any of Stephen R. Thorne’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

He must have loved it, the narrative was unending. He played well never faking it. He reminded me of some professors who could deliver some pretty turgid material and just keep going.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Lots of them, Nixon as VP, and relation to Ike, the Hiss case, the Checkers speech, failed elections and comebacks, Ronald Reagan. LBJ, alone is his own epic, but with Nixon it's a political wrestling match that takes your breath away. The 68 Democratic National Convention is another complex narrative well told, and by 72 you can't help but wonder if there isn't a better way.

Any additional comments?

It's not perfect, some points a strained past credulity, but this a story of America through Nixon. I would give it another listen credulity be damned.

A Must Read

This book clearly illustrates the partisan division in the US. It’s also terrifyingly relevant to the current political climate. At times, it felt like a how-to guide for Trump’s campaign.

Good Story but Unfortunate Narrator

What didn’t you like about Stephen R. Thorne’s performance?

The narrator mispronounced so many words that I lost count. It must have been more than 20 words (and almost all were English words, not names/surnames). For example, pseudo-intellectual is pronounced "swaydo-intellectual" multiple times instead of "soodo-intellectual". I kept asking myself: isn't there an editor that makes the narrator redo bad portions? Apparently, there wasn't for this story.His expression reading the story is fine but a narrator needs both expression and the ability to pronounce what he is reading.

One quibble

The author failed to mention the relationship if not the mentorship Nixon had with Sen. Prescott Bush the father of George HW Bush and grandfather of George w bush future presidents. it is thought that Prescott Bush had a great deal to do with getting Nixon on the ticket with Eisenhower and 52 which would go a long way and explaining the rescuing of George hws political career that Nixon did when he plucked him out of a failed run for the senate in Texas and made him the ambassador to the United Nations if memory serves in any case George HW Bush's career was definitely aided by Nixon as Bush really one no elections of consequence ever on his own yet found himself to be at the door of the presidency within 10 years of Nixon's occupation of the White House. I feel this is an important relationship that isn't investigated nearly enough and the author missed an opportunity to do so I think it would go a long way in helping to explain his Central thesis the fracturing of America.

Great book; why are male narrators getting worse?

Would you listen to Nixonland again? Why?

I would read it again but I wouldn't listen to it again. I can't spend that much time listening to Stephen Thorne.

What did you like best about this story?

It's important and detailed and well-told.

Would you be willing to try another one of Stephen R. Thorne’s performances?

No. Thorne is one of the massive number of absolutely featureless male audiobook narrators who now seem to dominate the format. His voice is utterly without distinguishing characteristics, conveys no gravitas or energy, and it sounds as if he was reading each individual sentence off a teleprompter with no clue as to what was coming next. The mispronunciations are bizarre, but I could have lived with that if Thorne was actually interesting to listen to. He isn't. Where do they find these guys???

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

This isn't a Bill Bryson book, so comments about tidbits are irrelevant.

Good Info

Good summary of an interesting, intelligent, and deeply flawed man, with a nice flow through history.

A 5-Star Book Injured by the Narrator

The *book* "Nixonland" is fascinating. Though one can quibble about some of Perlstein's choices (relatively little space devoted to the 1960 election compared to, e.g., Nixon's role in the 1966 Republican midterm-election resurgence), the details about seemingly minor politics and politicians, many now largely historical footnotes (Calif. Gov. Pat Brown; N.Y. Mayor John Lindsay; Illinois Sen. Charles Percy) are a kind of Rorschach of the politics in the 1960s. And that minute detail is what, ultimately, explains why many folks who supported Kennedy in 1960 and Johnson in 1964 had come, by 1968 and, especially 1972, to vote for Nixon in droves.

Richard Nixon is the main character, of course, in all his bottomless pathology -- smart; conniving; petty; crafty; conflicted; envious. But this book tells the story of this talented yet deeply flawed man against the vast canvas of his era, showing how easily history could have taken a different path.

But like several other reviewers, I found this *edition* wanting because of the narrator's careless pronunciation -- I counted at least a dozen relatively well-known folks (including Dean Acheson, Nguyen Cao Ky, and Tom Huston, infamous today for the "Huston Plan" that presaged Watergate) whose names he botched, along many place-names of Vietnam (e.g., Ton Son Nhut Air Base). There are reams of audio news reports from that era against which contemporary pronunciations of those names can be checked -- it's not as if this book were about life in the 1850s, after all. For those who lived through the era, the constant mispronunciations were both annoying and distracting. Overall, the book itself rates a "5" -- but this version loses a notch because of the narrator's failure to "fact check" pronunciations easily accessible in the public record -- which are the coin of the realm in a spoken word edition.

Great book, Great Narrator...Yes it's true!

This was overall a great book and a great listen. I was put off initially by all of the negative reviews about the narration. They were true in that the narrator mispronounced a lot of words. Yes, I agree it is distracting and yes, where is the editing that should have caught these gaffs. If you can set aside the mispronunciations the narrator did an outstanding job. My favorite was the pronunciation for pseudo. He pronounced it sway-doe. It took me just a bit to figure that one out. Just see it as a game and get beyond the mistakes. Otherwise the writing is very engrossing and the narration is one of the best I have experienced (with the caveat about mispronounced words). Definitely 5 stars.

Excellent, inciteful story, jarring narration

This is an excellent analysis of the rise of Richard Nixon in the light of new documentation that has become available in recent years. It is also a great way to see the rise of current political and press figures in the context of their early careers.
The narration is well paced, but the Mr. Thorne has learn how to pronounce names and relatively simple English words. A number of prominent American journalists and politicians have had their names butchered and I even heard him pronounce the name of the feminist magazine, "Ms", as "miss". Common now, how come the producer didn't pick this up and do a re-take?
However, this shouldn't detract from the insight into the distorted and small mind of the man who was Richard Nixon.

The parallels with today are unnerving.

It’s crazy to me that this book was written before Trump made his way into politics. The similarities between Nixon and Trump are unmistakable. By the end, though, Trump’s rise seems inevitable.