Ever since my AP Gov. teacher made us watch ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN back in 1983, I have been fascinated by all things Watergate. I even read the book ATPM at least a dozen times! In this book, I enjoyed the point of view of the last 100 days of Nixon's second term, for it allowed the reader to be inside the White House (and the EOB; who knew Nixon actually preferred his office over there than in the oval one) as if one were privy to the conversations (which we were, thanks to Nixon's flawed idea of having all dialogue secretly taped). Fifty years later, and I still can't believe what happened and am even more stunned by the Jan. 6th hearings and what has been discovered there (way worse than Watergate, IMHO). What people will do for power and what they will do to hang on to that power is a stunning study in the psyche of certain individuals. I now have to read more and even delve into reading about the Vietnam War, something I did not pay as much attention to in high school as I should have. Mr. Dobbs, thank you for leading me to other interesting historical avenues through this book. ( )

Great, entertaining narrative of Nixon from 2nd Inauguration on.... the slow drip drip drip of the scandal. Seemingly based closely on John Dean's recollections, as it is almost a birds-eye view from him of this remarkable year. Concludes with the public revelation of the WH tapes makes this a very accessible, almost narrow story enabling the viewer to follow the core closely. One can envision a sequel - as the story has much left to tell. (ala President's men/ final days). ( )

Well written.
Detailed in construction of events.
Having watched Watergate unfold, this was a wonderfully enjoyable read and re-visiting the events. ( )

Armed with every recorded tape (and at this point, anything that went on in any of Richard Nixon's offices was taped), every published photo, and every West Wing memoir dealing with the hundred days after Nixon's second inauguration, Dobbs takes us inside the White House as the Watergate incident explodes from a sketchy burglary into an unprecedented scandal and a possible constitutional crisis. And by "takes us inside," I don't mean "describes." Instead, Dobbs uses the taped or reported conversations as dialog and the photos and descriptions as setting to give us an immersive, novelistic view into the inner workings of this White House at this historic time. Many "characters" whose names I knew from the nightly news as a child ("Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Haldeman! Ehrlichman! John Dean and Nixon!") become fleshed out here, and at times sympathetic; it doesn't excuse his crimes to know that even Nixon had his kind and vulnerable sides, and wept honest tears when he was forced by events to fire his two closest aides.

Dobbs is not a great prose stylist, but his approach is ingenious and effective. Recommended to any student of the period, or to people like me for whom Watergate was an early political awakening. ( )

Probably only a true Watergate aficionado would even pick up this book, but for those of us who know every detail of the miserable saga, there's still more to learn. This is a more chatty and intimate look at all the major Watergate denizens, plus the obsequious Henry Kissinger, and the author manages to make all of them a teeny tiny bit sympathetic, except for Gordon Liddy, the Roger Stone of that era. It's probably Trump and his sycophants that manage to make Nixon's intentions look good, but Nixon was just as contemptuous of those who opposed him as Trump is. The really remarkable lookback is to the 1974 Republicans in Congress, who not only became disenchanted with lawbreaking but would have surely impeached Nixon if he hadn't resigned. They voted 77-0 to set up a Select Committee to investigate Watergate! Not only is Trump (with his total lack of interest in foreign relations, the opposite of Nixon) worse than Nixon's wildest dreams, but so are McConnell, McCarthy, Gaetz et al. I believe that Nixon would have seen them all for the traitors that they are.

Quotes: “Without anyone giving much thought to the possible consequences, Liddy’s wild ideas had become part of the bureaucratic paper flow.”

“The war had damaged the foundations of the American body politic, the social contract between government and governed. It had caused ordinary Americans to question the competence, good faith, even honesty of their leaders.”

“By this stage virtually everyone involved in the scandal was lying or concealing something. Watergate had become an intricate game of deception, played at many different levels by many different actors.” ( )