This 19+ hour audio book is not for the casual listener. It's a study book, like you get in college. The cast is a plethora that's hard to keep straight, even if we lived through it on TV every night. I suspect that if it could be distilled down to 1/3 of it's length, it would be tolerable. So, I skimmed through it.

What a fascinating read. I was 16 years old when President Nixon resigned. I have vivid memories of my mother glued to the television screen during the Watergate hearings. Now, as an adult, reading this detailed a counting of Nixon's final months in office I am struck by the similarity between Nixon and Trump's personalities. This account bvb thing was riveting to read. The perpetual state of limbo in which Nixon's loyal staffers existed is hard to fathom. The differentiation between the man and the office, as well as a President's sense of being a person who will be assessed by historians was quite powerful. I do not envy anybody who works for a boss who lies. I also finish reading this book thinking that it seems next to impossible to be in politics and to maintain one's integrity. ( )

As much as [All the President's Men] received the glory and the movie, this book is extraordinary in its own right. It is deep and full of detail of the (mostly men) who worked very hard to save Richard Nixon from himself. Many believed in the man as well as the office, but the hard work over years and the frustration they faced as their hard work yielded greater controversy.

There is a cast of characters at the beginning, an index at the end, and a chronology just before the index. I referred to these three sections repeatedly, as the first portion is divided into chapters that detail, through personal recollections and interviews, the meetings between lawyers, the discussions with Nixon, the drafts and the changes to the transcripts, the fight to release the transcript, and so much that went on to which the public was not privy at the time.

In discussions about Watergate and references to it, I feel much more knowledgeable about the impact and magnitude of the many events that covered those two years (was it only two years??). It was much more than the break-in, the reporting, then Nixon resigned; there were a lot of dedicated people who saw their president and presidency crumble, and they worked to serve their country as they saw best. ( )

I never stop being fascinated by this; it's absolutely gripping, and it really shouldn't be -- we know the ending. Most of these people don't matter in the long-term. And yet.

There's one part I keep coming back to; when the transcripts of the Oval Office tapes are released, in their shoddy, slipshod condition, one of the people who reads them makes an amazing remark (from my perspective), that releasing the tapes, with their revelations of personal ugliness, was the real crime. "A violation of the public's right not to know." ( )

This has to be one of the definitive books on Nixon's last days, appears to be based on sound research, and deriving from the journalistic rock stars Woodward and Bernstein it will remain influential for some time. Nixon was a complex man and the journalistic pair may to harshly misunderstand him. For example, just before resigning the writers report he is suicidal, and yet, not long after and publicly he was composed and completely rational. The truth is elusive. Nonetheless, there are memorable scenes, Nixon down on his knees praying with Kissinger portrays an indelible image.