Looking for a book recommendation.

[Antiquehunter]

I just watched the movie 'Nixon' (Ok - Kabul movies are a little behind the times)

I'm intrigued by the amount of intrigue in US politics in the whole Hoover - Nixon era (and all parts between).

Being Canadian, and being born just as Nixon began his downfall, I have little knowledge of the era.

Can any of you recommend a few books that relate the factual events of the period (no Kennedy conspiracy woo please) that would help me understand the evolution of politics through this period?

Thanks!

-AH.

 

[Mephisto]

I'm intrigued by the amount of intrigue in US politics in the whole Hoover - Nixon era (and all parts between)..

The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thompson is better than most stuff you'll find - it was a pretty dry and depressing era and Thompson (who committed suicide last year) always brings/brought his enlightened irreverance and sharp tongue into the fray. You might also look for Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail also by Thompson.

His biography was loosely covered in Where the Buffalo Roam with Bill Murray playing Dr. Thompson and a young Peter Boyle as his lawyer. A recent version of Thompson's book, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas was also brought to film and starred Johnny Depp.

 

[Major Billy]

Watergate by Fred Emery is possibly the best explanation of the Watergate crisis itself:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/s...pa&url=index=blended&field-keywords=watergate

If you prefer books with pictures, look up Herblock Special Report at your local library.

 

[Antiquehunter]

Thanks for the recs - will check 'em out. Particularly the Hunter S. Thompson books - I''ve read (and watched) Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, didn't realize he did more serious writing - I had him pegged as more of a Burroughs surrealist sort of creature.

Books with pictures - you mean like 'Curious George'?

 

[Meadmaker]

I've read the Thompson books, but I wouldn't recommend them for your purpose. I think that without the context you wouldn't get them. They have a very strange writing style.

 

[Hutch]

For a short read (good airplane book on your way back overseas) is "How the Good Guys Finally Won" by Jimmy Breslin, writing in that style only he had.

for more scholarly tomes, I'll let others recommend--it was an era I haven't looked at deeply, having lived through it.

 

[Mephisto]

--it was an era I haven't looked at deeply, having lived through it.

Did you really? And I thought you "sounded" much younger, Hutch! I was certain you were in your late-twenties!

 

[Mephisto]

Thanks for the recs - will check 'em out. Particularly the Hunter S. Thompson books - I''ve read (and watched) Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, didn't realize he did more serious writing - I had him pegged as more of a Burroughs surrealist sort of creature.

You're welcome, Antiquehunter,

As Meadmaker mentioned, Thompson's books are certainly somewhat different, but I think Thompson's outlook on the era will give you a good feel for what it was like for a liberal skeptic to live in Nixon/Reagan era America. He was very definitely a flamboyant figure in journalism (he was a big advocate of hallucinogenic drugs), but he did write several VERY serious pieces (including Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail) and was a respected sports columnist. He also wrote heavily for Rolling Stone magazine in its early days. I highly recommend the Bill Murray/Peter Boyle movie Where the Buffalo Roam as Murray's impersonation of Thompson was pretty uncanny.

 

[Hutch]

Did you really? And I thought you "sounded" much younger, Hutch! I was certain you were in your late-twenties!

Late-twenties, huh? Well, at least you didn't say I was BORN in the late twenties... Or maybe you mean that I post with all the maturity of a twenty-something?

For the record, Mephisto, I was born in 1953--you do the math.

 

[Mephisto]

Late-twenties, huh? Well, at least you didn't say I was BORN in the late twenties... Or maybe you mean that I post with all the maturity of a twenty-something?

For the record, Mephisto, I was born in 1953--you do the math.

Man! You're catching up to me!

(edited to add) I think you're one of the most reasonable people here.

 

[Hutch]

(edited to add) I think you're one of the most reasonable people here.

And I agree with you...

Seriously, I wish you and a number of other posters were coming to TAM4 this month. We'll have Randfan, Rikzilla, chaos, me, Roadtoad, Imaginal disc, and some others, but I'd love to have a lunch table with you, Capel dodger, ZN, jocko, and some of the other regulars having at it over ham and turkey sandwiches...