New biography on nixon

Richard Nixon has fascinated Americans, biographers and historians for the last 70 years, and, thanks to author John A. Farrell and his new book Richard Nixon: The Life (Doubleday, 752 pp., ***½ out of four stars), that fascination will last for at least a few more years.

The fundamentals of Nixon's life are well known to most Americans older than 50: the humble beginnings in Southern California; the tragic deaths of two brothers from tuberculosis; the hounding of suspected communists in Congress; the red-baiting of his political opponents; his eight years as President Dwight Eisenhower's vice president; the narrow 1960 election loss to John F.

Kennedy; his comeback in 1968; triumphs in Beijing and Moscow; and his ultimate humiliation in the Watergate scandal, followed by resignation from the presidency and exile.

That's a lot of material to pack into one volume, even one that weighs in at 750 pages, but Farrell does it whil Book Review: 'Nixon: The Life,' By John A. Farrell : NPR MIRAD