by Bob Woodward
First published 2015
Bob Woodward examines Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon administration insider who exposed the White House taping system that ultimately destroyed a presidency. Through forty-six hours of direct interviews with Butterfield and thousands of previously unseen documents, Woodward reconstructs how one aide's revelation changed American history. The author uncovers fresh details about Nixon's hidden obsessions and systematic deceptions during his final years in office. Butterfield emerges as the key witness who possessed crucial knowledge about the secret recordings that captured Nixon's private conversations. Woodward's investigation reveals new layers of the Watergate scandal through the eyes of someone who worked inside the administration's inner circle. The book demonstrates how a single disclosure can topple even the most powerful political figures when their private actions contradict their public statements.
Genres: history, 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator, whistleblower
Setting: White House
Period: 1970s
304 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster