Nixon: Ruin and Recovery 1973-1990

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.

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.

Stephen Ambroses third Nixon Volume : "Ruin AndRecovery" takes on into the heart and soulof democracy.Cynics accustomed to political scandal mightbe bemused by Watergate. What was all thehullabaloo really all about?Ambrose puts it something like this in the book:To the british, with their official Secrets Act, nothingthat Nixon had done seemed that out of the ordinary,much less illegal. The Italians simply threw up their handsat the crazy Americans. To the French. Watergate confirmed their suspicions about the naive Americans.In west Germany, the frequent comparison of Nixonto Hitler by his enemies in America showed eitherhow little the Americans understood Hitler,or how little they understood Nixon, or both.Nixons friends in China, could not understandwhy 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 wereviolated and how american democracy proved strongenough to recover.Ruin and Recovery reads like a detective story,absolutely undeniable brilliant stuff.<P...

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 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.