![]() The Watergate debacle damaged the president’s – and government’s – credibility like no other event in the nation’s history. Little went right during a time mired by decline and disarray. It does pay off over the span of several hundred pages as these fragments coalesce into a mosaic. The only drawback to this style is that it can sometimes feel scattered or exhausting as Perlstein launches fact after fact on to the page. The Arab oil embargo is a standard fixture of the period’s history but Perlstein’s ability to unearth now-forgotten nuggets like the meat boycott is what illuminates the text. Wade, the Equal Rights Amendment, rising crime and drug use, multi-district busing, and Archie Bunker. ![]() Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army make frequent appearances as do the tawdriest chapters of Watergate, the return of POWs from Vietnam, inflation, stagflation, Roe v. Perlstein does both by barraging readers with stories personifying the decade’s turmoil. ![]()
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