JOHN A. FARRELL is the author of Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography, and Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century. A longtime journalist, he worked at The Denver Post and at The Boston Globe, where he served as White House correspondent and on the vaunted Spotlight team.
"Beautifully written and deeply insightful . . . A bracing portrait
of a man untethered from principle and ideology, driven throughout
his life to win at any cost and thereby palliate his deep-seated
insecurities . . . Nixon was not an easy man to understand. And
even now, his failures and accomplishments are not easy to
classify. In Farrell's capable hands, however, we see Nixon in his
entirety--and we can't help but wonder what he means for our
politics today."
--William Howell, San Francisco Chronicle "[Nixon is] an
electrifying subject, a muttering Lear, of perennial interest to
anyone with even an average curiosity about politics or psychology.
The real test of a good Nixon biography, given how many there are,
is far simpler: Is it elegantly written? And, even more important,
can it tolerate paradoxes and complexity, the spikier stuff that
distinguishes real-life sinners from comic-book villains? The
answer, in the case of Richard Nixon, is yes, on both counts."
--Jennifer Senior, The New York Times "A stack of good books about
Nixon could reach the ceiling, but Farrell has written the best
one-volume, cradle-to-grave biography that we could expect about
such a famously elusive subject. By employing recently released
government documents and oral histories, he adds layers of
understanding to a complex man and his dastardly decisions . . .
Outstanding."
--Aram Goudsouzian, Washington Post "With a mix of morbid
fascination and deep empathy, Farrell humanizes Nixon, but he
doesn't let him off the hook . . . The dichotomy between brooding
schemer and extroverted leader has long defined the Nixon dynamic.
But with Richard Nixon, Farrell has etched those history-shaking
contradictions into the most vivid--and the most startling--relief
to date."
--Jason Heller, NPR.org "An extremely valuable introduction to the
life and times of one of our most consequential presidents. Farrell
gives us a Nixon rich in both character flaws and great
accomplishments, the latter fueled by his transformational vision.
It's a worthy look at a fascinating president."
--Ray Locker, USA Today "Though there have been many previous books
about Nixon, Mr. Farrell's comprehensive, one-volume biography is
welcome . . . In lively, vigorous prose, he takes readers through
Nixon's career, offering incisive judgments and revealing details
along the way."
--Robert K. Landers, Wall Street Journal "Superb . . . the most
formidable attempt yet made to put Richard Nixon in
perspective."
--Steve Donoghue, Christian Science Monitor "Farrell is an
exceptional writer . . . It may not have been Farrell's intent to
produce a cautionary tale about the dangers of a presidency run
aground on lies, paranoia, prejudices, and delusion, but that's
what he's accomplished."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review "Farrell's blockbuster portrait
of Nixon is revelatory--filled with fresh reporting shedding new
light on the roots of our own dark political moment. He shows that
dirty tricks, October Surprises, and anti-elitist resentment were
among the gifts Nixon bequeathed to our own presidential
politics."
--Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money: The Hidden History of the
Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right "John A. Farrell
has once again delivered a rich, precisely written portrait of the
past to help us understand the present. He traces the origins and
turning points of one of the most complex, complicated and
fascinating presidents of the modern age with flair and narrative
skill. Each page is a joy to read, on the way to a very satisfying
whole."
--John Dickerson, moderator of CBS's Face the Nation and author of
Whistlestop "Brilliant, ruthless, a president who combined some
enlightened policies with inner darkness, Richard Nixon stands
alone in the history of American politics. John A. Farrell's
gripping account vividly captures Nixon from his earliest
days--catapulting to Congress with a cold-blooded debate stunt--to
the mounting crises he faced in the White House, culminating in his
spectacular fall."
--T.J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Custer's Trials and
The First Tycoon "In Richard Nixon, John A. Farrell is tough and
unyielding, yet gives his subject a fair hearing through each
gripping episode. 'I'm not a quitter, ' Nixon once protested, and
this grand, indispensable book proves him right, right to the
end."
--Chris Matthews, author of Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that
Shaped Post-war America "Jack Farrell gives us two profoundly
resonant Richard Nixons--the last progressive Republican, and the
author of our national divisions. He also gives us, in one
engrossing volume, the defining biography of our darkest
president."
--Larry Tye, author of Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon
"With clarity and verve, John A. Farrell's deft pen illuminates the
life of America's 37th president. Unsparing yet fair-minded in its
analysis and based on deep research in a wealth of archival and
published sources, Richard Nixon is a fast-moving and penetrating
portrait of this controversial and complicated man."
--Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War
"John A. Farrell's Richard Nixon: The Life is an expertly written
and strikingly comprehensive portrait of America's most complicated
president. Farrell has a genius for the telling anecdote and
apropos quote. His command of the sources is staggering. Richard
Nixon is a true landmark achievement."
--Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and
author of Cronkite
"Full of fresh, endlessly revealing insights into Nixon's political
career, less on the matter of his character, refreshingly, than on
the events that accompanied and resulted from it."
--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"A probing biography . . . Readers track the lonely and hard-won
ascent of a sickly, love-starved child, who dreams like a Romantic
but maneuvers like Machiavelli . . . An unflinching portrait."
--Booklist, starred review
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