Watergate: A New History

 

Watergate: A New History – by Garrett M. Graff

So I’ve probably read about 10-15 books about the infamous Watergate incident.  My guess is that there are well over 100. We must remember that most of the “president’s men” that were implicated in the scandal ended up writing personal memoirs, so such a high volume of accounts shouldn’t be too surprising.  But in 2024, the million-dollar question I asked was: “Do we really need ANOTHER book on Watergate?”  Well, maybe not, but that doesn’t take away the fact that this book is, in fact, an excellent account. In fact, it may be the best of the rather large bunch.

What we must remember about history, is that as time moves forward, more information is uncovered; more sources are found, and in the instance of Watergate, we still have several principles who are still alive and may be willing to now divulge what they know.  The biggest thing that this account has in its favor is that we now all know who journalist Bob Woodward’s secret source was.  For decades, he was only known as “Deep Throat”, and if you saw the 1976 film “All the President’s Men”, you saw just how consequential said source was.  In fact, there were a few books written that seemed to ONLY focus on figuring out the identity of the mysterious individual. (John Dean attempted this with his book “Lost Honor”.  Sadly, it wasn’t a very good book, and like most, Dean got it wrong; He surmised Alexander Haig.)  Anyway, Woodward finally told us several years ago that his clandestine source was acting FBI Director Mark Felt.  Such knowledge DOES in fact, give this book a bit more focus since this has now been revealed and Felt is given a lot of page space since he was such an important player.

Author Garrett M. Graff doesn’t really make the main focus of this book the “what” so much as the “why”.  Although it’s mainly known by scholars, the actual Watergate burglary was only one of a plethora of “dirty tricks” that Nixon and his team concocted to destroy his enemies, promote his agenda, and satisfy the 37^th president’s persistent paranoia. We read about such unpleasantness before Nixon even takes office such as the Chennault Affair, and many of his earlier stumblings such as the Pentagon Papers incident and the Huston Plan.  In fact, as this book reminds us, there has never been a consensus as to what the Watergate burglars were actually trying to achieve when they were caught with prefabricated bugging equipment inside the Chairman of the Democratic Party’s headquarters office that fateful night.

I would argue that the biggest factor of the scandal is that there were simply too many crooks running around with too many fingers in too many pies.  Sure, if one or two people are guilty in such a high-level crime, it might be possible to contain the truth and execute some sort of cover up, but the guilty parties of Watergate were in the dozens, and with all of evil oozing everywhere, there was no chance of containing it.  Of course it didn’t help when it was discovered that Nixon set up a taping system in the Oval Office that recorded every conversation that occurred. 

The book walks us through it all, concluding with Nixon’s resignation and the immediate aftereffects. We are then reminded that since the incident, journalists have never fully trusted the Oval Office, and Watergate added a certain color to all administrations that made us all highly skeptical of any news story that seemed slightly off color. (Bob Woodward wrote a great account back in the 1990s of the subsequent presidents and their “scandals”.  I believe the title was “Shadow”; worth checking out.)

One problem that this (and all Watergate) book(s) has is that there are an awful lot of people to read about within the pages and it’s hard to keep all of the names straight.  Fortunately the author includes a nice pictorial supplement in the book that gives us a visual of most of the major players, but it’s still an awful lot to digest.  I’m not sure readers in the 2020s know who people like Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchel, and John Dean were, so one might get a tad lost.  I will say, again, that this is simply a sad fact and not something any author can control nor make anything easier for the reader.  Again, they were just too many people involved, and if we really do want a comprehensive account such as this, such detail is necessary.

This is a great book for someone who knows little about the tragedy, but I would also highly recommend it for someone (such as myself) who’s already read an awful lot on the subject.  There are new insights, new stories, new speculations, and sometimes it really is better to examine history 50 years (yes, it’s been that long) after the fact rather than immediately after the incident has been brought to light.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab

This is one of those books that I enjoyed the idea of the story better than the actual story itself.  In other words, I kept wondering how this thing could have been better than it was. It was actually a very satisfying read, it just seemed to have an awful lot of areas and elements where it seemed the author may have been a tad unsure as to how to move the plot forward, and I found several elements to be a tad lacking.  I felt with a bit more polish that this weird somewhat-supernatural tale could have been a masterpiece of creativity.  Instead, it ended up just being a good book.

We meet Adeline LaRue in the year 1714. She lives in a small French village with her family, and she’s just coming of age from being a girl to a young woman. Like a lot of people who live in small villages in the 18^th century, they know very little else of the world.  At times, her father takes her on business travels and she gets to “experience” a much broader life. Companions in her small village include an elderly eccentric woman named Estelle who many would describe as the village witch.  She warns Adeline to “never ask the Gods anything after dark”.   Well, when forced marriage to young Adeline is impending, she runs. She prays. It’s after dark.  She makes a “deal” with some sort of supernatural deity.  She wants freedom.  The entity grants Adeline her wish.

Well, we’ve all heard the saying “be careful what you wish for.”  We’ve also seen too many movies and shows where someone makes a deal with someone like the devil, an evil genie, or Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island to know that these sort of things don’t end well, and for Adeline LaRue, the consequences of her bartering don’t go as planned.  I won’t reveal too much about the deal she makes, nor the plot, but let’s just say that Adeline “Addie” LaRue is still alive and walking the streets of Brooklyn, New York in the year 2014.

Getting to live for 300 years?  Immortality?  Seems pretty good. Right?   Well…….  It’s quite fun to read about Addie’s escapades and how she struggles and attempts to somehow live a normal life.  The problem that I had with this book is that the story bounces around too much within the 300-year time period.  The author is trying to show us how Addie has built character and learned lessons by giving us snippets from her very long life.  It’s a bit much.  We jump to places like Paris, Venice and Chicago during  these 300 years, yet we never stay there long enough to enjoy the scenery.   I think had Addie’s “journey” been limited to two or three places it would have been easier; even if it was in such a sprawling time period.

Then we meet Luc.  Who is Luc?  Luc is the entity (devil, demon, whatever) who she made the deal with back in 1714.  He has the ability to manifest whenever he wants and has an aura of mystery about him.  Every time he appears, he manages to fascinate and frighten Addie at the same time.  Addie is somewhat entranced by this figure, yet she’s much angrier because of what he’s done to her soul.  We read about way too many of these encounters that are essentially a battle of wits between the two.  This is another element that should have been toned down and significantly cut.

Of course, this is an “artsy” book, so we read a lot about literature, fashion, visual art, theatre, etc.  I found it a tad laborious to have to read 2-3 pages when Adeline is trying to figure out what to wear.  But there are probably others (such as the author) that this sort of thing is important and interesting, so I have to give these escapades a pass. This, again, is how I felt about the entire story.  There were many parts of this book when I would heavily sigh and think “Do we have to read more about this?  Can’t we just move on?”  I think I felt that way because the character and circumstances of Addie were so strange and eccentric, that I really wanted to know what would eventually happen.  Despite the setbacks, I did find the conclusion overall satisfying.

This was definitely a colorful read, and I really didn’t know anything about the book nor the author when I picked this thing up.  I found it good, but can see why so many people thought much more highly about it than I did.

The Family Romanov – Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia

 

The Family Romanov – Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia – Candace Fleming

I didn’t realize when I bought this (an e-copy; just had to click the “purchase” button) that this book is supposedly for “younger audiences”.   A kid’s book possibly.  Oh well. Why not read it anyway?  Well, even though this book was definitely tinted towards younger readers, it wasn’t at all too remedial nor juvenile for an adult to enjoy.  In fact, many adults are intimidated by thick, scholarly tomes where one needs a dictionary handy.  Maybe this is just the sort of book that encourages more adults to read as opposed to letting sensationalized cable talk shows rot out their brains?   Then, of course, there’s the irony of many books that kids “have to read” in English when they’re 17 years old ain’t exactly easy.  My guess is most high school students never enjoyed Beowolf nor Crime and Punishment.   So a “young reader” monicker shouldn’t dissuade one from picking this book up.

This book was a very enjoyable primer of the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family. The author gives us an adequate background of the family as well as the troubled country of Russia.  Of all the books I’ve read on the time period, this book focused the most on the actual wife and children of Nicolas II as opposed to the political and socioeconomic landscape.  Yes, we do read about that (how could we not?) but the main focus that the author coveys is just how aristocratic and disengaged this family was towards its subjects.  To prove her point, the author includes little “snippets” and the end of each chapter that contrast the life of an average starving peasant in order to juxtapose what we’ve just read about the spoiled Romanovs.  As well meaning as these episodes are, I couldn’t help feel they were a bit unnecessary and forced.  Yes, these contrasts need to be pointed out, but the author seemed to include these out of obligation rather than passion.  We should have read a lot more, or nothing at all.

The country is edging towards anarchy and chaos as the 20^th century begins.  Much of this is due to factors beyond anyone’s control, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that Nicolas II simply isn’t a good leader.  He never wanted the job, but with monarchies, you really don’t get to pick who the next person in line for the throne is.   The problem of being a tsar, and being raised to become one your whole life, is that you’re sheltered from what the citizens really think of you.  We must remember that “Tsar” essentially means “God’s chosen leader” so every decision that a tsar makes is supposedly from God; and there’s little or no room for disagreement.  When anyone who seriously questions the tsar and his decisions, the individual is either taken out and shot or exiled to Siberia, so it’s easy to see that the royal family is completely oblivious to the pains of the countrymen.

A great (yet sad) example is when World War I begins, and Russia is woefully unprepared.  As the masses of men are conscripted and sent to battle with little or no weaponry and inept leadership, we read about how thousands are slaughtered on the battlefield every day.  How does Nicholas II respond?  Well, he decides that HE should then become the supreme leader of the army.  He dons a pressed uniform, goes to the front, and essentially prances around the troops (while not engaged in fighting, of course) thinking that this will somehow raise morale.  He is, after all, God’s chosen one. Right? Let’s just say his idea wasn’t a good one.

Eventually the revolution removes the Tsar and his family and they’re sent to live in exile.  Finally, the family is then hauled into the basement of the facility where they are imprisoned and mowed down by assassins’ bullets. This episode has been well documented, but what makes this book unique is that we read an awful lot of about the family in between the exile and their deaths, and it’s quite fascinating to read.  Before reading this book, I never really knew much about the Romanov children, yet I felt I had a much deeper understanding and appreciation after reading this book.  In fact, we see the children become forced to live like “normal” people once they are exiled, and they seem to make the adjustment quite well.  (Although “normal” probably means they were still better-off than 95% of the population of the country who were starving.)

If you’ve come across this review and you don’t read much history because you find it boring, or too meticulous for your tastes, I would recommend this book. This gives the reader a good understanding of the people, the places, and the country as it spiraled into civil war and eventually reigned by malleable communist leaders.  This is a book that one won’t feel intimidated.   There needs to be more books like this.  No, it isn’t scholarly, but people need to do more reading, and this book might be just the thing.