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History. Language Arts. Politics. Nonfiction. HTML:50th Anniversary Edition�??With a new foreword on what Watergate means today. "The work that brought down a presidency...perhaps the most influential piece of journalism in history" (Time)�??from the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Final Days. The most devastating political detective story of the century: two Washington Post reporters, whose brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation smashed the Watergate scandal wide open, tell the behind-the-scenes drama the way it really happened. One of Time magazine's All-Time 100 Best Nonfiction Books, this is the book that changed America. Published just months before President Nixon's resignation, All the President's Men revealed the full scope of the scandal and introduced for the first time the mysterious "Deep Throat." Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing through headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward deliver a riveting firsthand account of their reporting. Their explosive reports won a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post, toppled the president, and have since inspired generations of reporters. All the President's Men is a riveting detective story, capturing the exhilarating rush of the biggest presidential scandal in US history as it unfolded in real… (more)
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Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein present the pivotal moment when our President, the leader of the free world, became a shifty, scheming thug instead of a
Told from the perspective of the writers in a third person way, the events that kick off with the Watergate break-in and end with the Executive Branch of the United States government in shambles becomes a thrilling and potent detective story. These two put themselves on the line by searching out the truth, no matter how much the President's men tried to make them look foolish and like full-blown McGovern puppets solely trying to make the President look bad because he was a Republican. There were threats, secrets, cover-ups, and more than a few tricks.
This book. This is the one. If you want some solid reporting about political intrigue, read this book.
It was slow going, reading about painstaking shoe-leather reporting of this now-historic time. I wonder if ferreting out the story would have been easier in the Internet age. Maybe not, since the players would not have broadcast their
I lived through the Watergate era. My mother yelled "Bitch! Bastard! Schmuck!" every night at the TV at the sight of Nixon's face. I was busy being a student and didn't pay close attention to what was going on.
I don't know if I'm jaded by subsequent events or just clueless, but what these guys did doesn't seem all that bad. Political espionage, dirty tricks, secret taping, and then covering it up? Don't all politicians do that?
What went on does seem worse than lying about sex with an intern.
And, reading this book will remind you (or, if you are young enough, will let you know for the first time) how pivotal Watergate was to history and the presidency. No one really suspected how far it went. Yet it all came out. This is not as engrossing as good fiction. Nor should it be. If it were, it would be unbelievable. Instead, the straightforward approach, the avoidance of hyperbole, allows the reader to recognize that this is the real world, and this was a real event. And it is done in a balanced way – one that shows the role of each reporter, and the role of other journalists. The handling of this reporting helps you understand why, even today, Woodward gets information that no one else does.
Beyond the history, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. First, this is the foundation for someone’s book on leadership. For all his faults, it is evident here that Nixon was great leader (as in, one who was great a leading, not as in one who was great in the way they led.) It is evident that people went beyond where they might, just because of him. Second, this should be required reading for anyone who does fraud investigation (not just investigative journalism.) This provides perfect examples of the investigation approaches – planning the interviews, not ignoring the little things, never go beyond what you know is right (which Woodward and Bernstein did – and paid a price).
And, for a better experience, read this with some of the other volumes that came out at that time – for example, The Brethren by Woodward (about the Supreme Court when all this was going on), Final Days by Woodward and Bernstein, and Breach of Faith by T H White.
I had quite some trouble with this book, because of the style. It's terrible, especially since these men are (were?) reporters!
I also find it's practically impossible to read if you do not already know something about Watergate. Thankfully I
Now I've finished it I have to say I still am not much wiser. There a truckload of names, a lot of leads (most have to do with a money trail), but real conclusive information? There's not much of that, unfortunately.
I find this book a waste of time.
Like some of the other reviews on this site that I have read for this book, I agree that as a source for the intrepid investigation activities of the young reporters, this is a valuable primary source. At the same time, it makes me want to read accounts of the same events by other authors. The authors here were so bold and narrow in their focus, that I don't think there was any time or inclination to talk about other interesting topics like their educational background and the style of their everyday work at the newspaper.
Of course, I realize that all of this can be found in other books. I know that Bob Woodward has continued to write since the time of this book. Probably Carl Bernstein too. So I'll finish The Final Days, and then bridge into whatever books from one or both of these two seem logical for the next selection.
The book nor the movie has a hint of violence, car chases and James bond allure, and both don't need to. Each and every time
It has a personal story too. When I became interested in Watergate, and read the book for the first time back in the seventies, I believed that Woodward's "My Friend" contained an acronym for Mark Felt, then deputy chief of the FBI. If I'd only put a bet on that, I would have been rich today...
Recommended, and never old nor outdated, despite the big phones they need to use and the paper they write on. And in the movie, the ties they wear. But that's a different story.
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364.1320973 |