![]() Segregated schools lasted into the ’70s in the American South, due partially to Nixon’s courting of the southern vote (the first Republican since the Civil War to do so successfully). People forget that it wasn’t especially noble after King, either. It’s accepted that prior to the mid-sixties that America on the subject of race was less than enlightened. He makes it very clear that not only was the consensus a veneer, but that it contributed to making the fractioning so bloody. Perlstein has really done his research not only does he flesh Nixon out very fully, explaining a lot of why he was the way he was, but the world at the time. ![]() The lead-up to the election is so fast-paced and exciting, it almost seems like an abrupt ending, even though it’s a logical one - though, given the subject, there were some interesting things to happen afterward, like the resignation of Agnew, and something about a break-in of some sort. ![]() Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America is an in depth look at Nixon’s political career from the beginning up to the outcome of the 1972 election, as well as how America’s political scene went from perceived consensus in the LBJ era to the bitterly divided right versus left, red state/blue state split. It’s very odd when you find a book that’s about 800 pages, and find it’s too short. ![]()
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