Customer Reviews

Perlstein Land - By: J. Murphy, 19 Jul 2008
Perlstein is a scion of the 60s. Through reading a lot of newspapers & mining a lot of television, he has constructed an imaginary world called Nixonland. Nixonland, like Hobbitland, existsin the mind of the fabulist. Perlstein has also reconstructed,in this same manner, many of the events of the 50s & 60sin fascinating & often compelling narrative detail. As a popular history of these times, Nixonland is an exciting & sometimes fresh read. As a paradigm for understanding Americain the postwar era, the concept of `Nixonland' is extremely limited. The limitations of the concept are readily apparent, for example,in the race narrative that Perlstein grapples with throughout the book.

To conclude, as Perlstein does, that Nixonland `has not ended yet' is true but meaningless. Nixonland does exist, but notin the way Perlstin imagines. It isin fact the place where the 60s go to die. It is the remote magic mountain nursing home for those unable or unwilling to recover from the past, where the patients livein the twilight of a rapidly fading era. Most of the kids today don't visit the nursing home, except occasionally on grandpa's birthday, when he tells them stories of cities burning, John & Yokoin bed for peace, & `radical' philosophy be-ins, but leaves out the part where he took acid & ran half-nakedin the streets before becoming a lawyer & moving to the suburbs. Nixonland is the same kind of invented place as John Ford's American West.

Had Nixon never become president, the arc of his career would have still held some interest for historians, but he hardly invented the Orthogonians versus Franklins (Perlstein's rhubric) conflict, a theme that has been salient throughout American history. Nixon was one playerin the postwar drama, & a fascinating one, skilled at exploiting social rifts for political gain, but hardly the master metallurgist forging a new social alloy. The subtitle of the book includes the phrase, `the fracturing of America'. It's hard to know what that means, especially after reading the book. Fractures, fissures, social conflict (think FDR & his `moneyed interests'), & violence have marked American life for centuries, driving the social dynamic of the country. Nixon is one variant of the venal, cynical, manipulative, & corrupt American politician. In this he has keen competition, including among those who achieved the presidency.

The book repays reading & one should anticipate with enthusiasm a further instalment where Perlstein will presumably draw out the picture of a fractured America.