In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat, and Renewal

Why is it pleasurable to read this book ? Because you have the impression of sitting with former President Nixon having him telling you his experience as a politician, truly revealing, with simple but skilled language, anedoctes of his life and his mind about a lot of topics. I really enjoyed having this presidential chat with President Nixon and every once in a while I will surely have some other ones by reading some passages of " In the Arena", a memoir narrated not in chronological order, but according to certain matters he deals with.

This books tells you very interesting things about Politics and Life in general. Definitely, Richard Nixon was a very intelligent man. Something I find fascinating and mysterious is that the most intelligent President of USA has been the only one to be dismissed, the one who obtained one of the most landslide victory of USA's electoral history (1972) and the one who had more enemies in the Press.

Since the former president granted my request and sent me a personal autographed copy absolutely free I am biased about this book. I think it is well-written, insightful, personal, and philosophical all in one package. His approach to life was essentially life it to the hilt, have something to show for your existence, hence the title. He was not hesitant to enter "the arena." In fact, his life was lived in the arena. President Nixon was both a thinker and doer.While he lived adventurously on two levels, the mental and physical, he was somewhat neglectful of the spiritual arena. He talks about his Christian parents, especially his mother, but he doesn't address spiritual matters in his personal life in any great detail. I know he was on friendly terms with both Billy Graham and Norman Vincent Peale. I'm sure they had some Christian influence on him.In this book, the president looks back on life as an elder statesman. Some of the advice he gives is pertinent to any arena. When he talks about living with a purpose that transcends self, the focus is beyond political. He devotes time to the human condition, overcoming personal challenges, victories, defeats, and renewals. This is a well-thought out book. Any open minded reader would be stimulated by it.

Richard Nixon's In The Arena is a political masterpiece. He demonstrates remarkable insights into the forces of the world of politics. It is odd that a man who had such a profound knowledge of the system and an understanding of how it can be tamed made such foolish errors in his own administration. The book, however, indicates that his legacy will be more than just the Watergate scandel, and more than the resignation of the presidency. Much like a lion tamer who one day loses control of his beast, so too Nixon lost the power over politics, but that does not repudiate his long career of dominating in the arena.

This is not only one of the best books President Nixon wrote, but I have also found it to be one of the best written by any President. What makes it so good is the fact that you do not have to be a fan of Nixon's in order to appreciate it. Instead you get a personal view of his feelings on a variet of subjects. Even his most fierce critics would give him credit for giving excellant advice. In this book people of all sorts of professions can find sound advice for everyday events and aspects of their lives. I would love to discuss this book with anyone who is interested. Brian Maughan