Customer Reviews

Nixon: Ruin and Recovery, 1973-1990

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This book seperates fact from fiction, truth from distortion. This final book about Nixon by Stephen Ambrose does a great job of giving both deserved criticizm and deserved acclaim for Nixons final years in the white house and his recovery afterword. Probably the best and fair book regarding Nixon from 1973-1990.

This third volume of the Nixon series is dominated by the Watergate scandal, with Ambrose skilfully detailing how the great election victory in 1972 slowly unravelled, as the full weight of the media and Democrat-controlled Congress worked to expose the whole tawdry episode. During this era, there was also the bombing of Hanoi followed by the Vietnam ceasefire, and summits with the Soviet leadership, but Watergate overshadowed all. Ambrose makes it clear that Nixon reinvented the story over and over, and bears a large burden of blame for the predicament he found himself in. He also makes clear that this was the opportunity for Nixon's arch enemies in the media and Congress to go for blood. The descent into the nightmare of possible impeachment and eventual resignation reads like an inevitablity, that Nixon lasted till August 1974 said a lot about his tenacity and stubborness in the face of relentless adversity.

The recovery of Nixon was never fully realized, although he was an authoritative elder statesman in later years, and Ambrose shows that Nixon had regained a fair amount of respect in his later years. Since his death the left has continued to disparage and villify his legacy, but as hard as it is to defend Nixon at times, he was still a statesman to be reckoned with, and his foreign policy record, especially with his China trip, is one of distinction. The eastern establishment despised Nixon, but he did not cater to them, it was the silent majority that was his constituency. One finishes this book wondering where America would have gone had the Watergate scandal not occurred.

This is a book that really let you know Richard Nixon, one of the most fascinating politicans of this century. Stephen Ambrose's biography of president Nixon is the best of all the books I've read about this brilliant statesman. It's fair and it's written with a true feeling.

Stephen Ambrose concludes his three volume work on Richard Nixon with a flourish. Watergate is an extremely complex and lengthy story which Ambrose details in fine detail. After the president's resignation, we are then treated to Nixon's final comback which is a sixteen year saga.

In terms of the three volume set, Ambrose does a brilliant job with this nine decade life. But let's give his subject some credit as well. Richard Nixon (love him or hate him) is one of the most fascinating individuals of the 20th century. A man of modest means who goes from U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and a two term Vice President through 1960. At that point, he is dealt with devastating defeats in a presidentail election and the 1962 Governor's race in California. Some men would be left for dead but you just can't get rid of this guy. Wins the presidency in 1968 and a crushing landslide in 1972. Serving two terms would seem to have been the crowning achievement except for a little break-in at a hotel interrupts the fairy tale ending. As mentioned in the first paragraph, he makes his final comeback to re-establish his reputation. He does all of this with a personality that would seem to be an antithesis of a politician (moody, no close friends, distrust of people, awkward in social situations.)

I read the entire three volume set (almost 2,000 pages) this summer and I am not sure if I will ever read about a subject so interesting done by such an outstanding writer.

Stephen Ambroses third Nixon Volume : "Ruin And
Recovery" takes on into the heart and soul
of democracy.
Cynics accustomed to political scandal might
be bemused by Watergate. What was all the
hullabaloo really all about?

Ambrose puts it something like this in the book:
To the british, with their official Secrets Act, nothing
that Nixon had done seemed that out of the ordinary,
much less illegal. The Italians simply threw up their hands
at the crazy Americans. To the French. Watergate
confirmed their suspicions about the naive Americans.
In west Germany, the frequent comparison of Nixon
to Hitler by his enemies in America showed either
how little the Americans understood Hitler,
or how little they understood Nixon, or both.
Nixons friends in China, could not understand
why he just didn't shoot his critics.

But in a democracy you must play by the law,
and you must trust and have faith in the wisdom
of the election process.
Watergate was all about how these things were
violated and how american democracy proved strong
enough to recover.
Ruin and Recovery reads like a detective story,
absolutely undeniable brilliant stuff.<P...

To fully understand Nixon, I highly recommend first reading volumes 1 and 2 of Ambrose's work. If, however, you are more interested in the Watergate affair, this volume certainly stands on its own.

This is the final part of Ambrose's definitive three-volume biography of Nixon. The destructive tendencies wonderfully described by Ambrose in the first two volumes come to a head in Ruin & Recovery. Ambrose takes the reader through the unfolding of the mess that was Watergate.

Even though we all know the ultimate outcome will be resignation, the author manages to maintain enough tension and suspense to keep the reader engrossed. In the wake of resignation, Ambrose follows Nixon's remarkable comeback as an elder statesman.

If an affordable copy is not currently available, be patient. Because this book is out of print, it will be more expensive than you might expect, but you can find it for $20 to $30 if you look around.

I've read the entire trilogy on Richard Nixon by Stephen Ambrose and this is a terrific culmination to a fascinating project. Here, the story of the Watergate scandal and Nixon's life-long goal of redemption take center stage. Ambrose tells the story in quick, fast-paced prose that captures all aspects of this presidency in an objective, thoughtful way. The parts on Nixon's fall are thrilling, but as are the parts on his return. The author ends the introduction to this book with the line, "I have loved writing this book." As a reader, I would echo that sentiment by saying, "I have loved reading these books."

I have read most of Stephen Ambrose's books. He writes with incredible detail and non-bias and yet while you are reading you feel like you are reading a fiction novel. It is very hard to put down. I chose this book because he wrote it. My interest in Nixon and the whole watergate era was minimal before reading it. I just wanted to read "Ambrose". After reading it, I read 2 more books on Nixon/Watergate and neither compared to this book. If you have an interest in this topic, it is a must read. If you like reading about history, you MUST read anything written by Stephen Ambrose.

For a guy that didn't grow up during Watergate, I found the third volume in this series to be a real page turner. Ambrose does a good job of telling you what happened, why it happened, how the public saw it and all the ways Nixon tried to keep the public from seeing it all.

Ruin and Recovery is a great subtitle for this volume because Nixon truly did recover. There were a few things he never lost... his ability to guage the American people and how they felt about candidates and the ability to breakdown foreign affairs. It was good to see that in the final years of his life he was called on as an expert on both.

I'm going to say it..."I ADMIRE RICHARD NIXON." Obviously I don't admire his Presidency or his decision-making during Watergate... but... for the most part I feel he was an idealistic, patriotic person that took a bad path and ruined his place in history at least when it comes to his Presidency. He did many things that Americans should respect though and it's high time we did.

I am glad he has made a recovery in the minds of many Americans and as I read this final volume I think I saw Ambrose almost making a case for Nixon being a kinder, gentler person who should be slightly more respected in American history.

Everybody makes mistakes and true Nixon made a big one, but I think in this final volume Ambrose almost makes a personal peace with Nixon and in a way advises Americans who resented Nixon to do the same.

Really an enjoyable series of books that I would recommend to anyone willing to spend 1900 words delving into what made Nixon both good and bad as a person and politican.

it was the best book ever my bum is on the swedish! my bum is on the book hehe