First published 1999
Monica Crowley worked as Richard Nixon's foreign policy assistant during his final four years. She belonged to his inner circle of advisors and spent hours in daily conversations with the former president. Crowley reconstructs these exchanges to reveal Nixon's continued influence on American foreign policy after leaving office. The book shows Nixon advising his successors, shaping policy during the Persian Gulf War, and making his final emotional journey to China. He shares his views on the Cold War's end and reflects bitterly on Vietnam's legacy. Nixon opens up about Watergate with startling candor, evaluating the scandal's key figures and explaining what he might have changed. He discusses how sexual scandals involving the Kennedys, Bill Clinton, Clarence Thomas, and Robert Packwood transformed American politics. The account captures Nixon's frustrations with being out of power and his criticism of Bush and Clinton's foreign policy mistakes. As he ages, Nixon reveals his private thoughts on faith and family while coping with his wife's death and confronting his own mortality.
Genres: history, 20th-century, political-science, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: China, Persian Gulf
Period: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s
Hardcover · Random House Value Publishing