The Arrogance of Power

The controversial biography of America's most infamous president, written by a master of investigative political reporting

Anthony Summers's towering biography of Richard Nixon reveals a tormented figure whose criminal behavior did not begin with Watergate. Drawing on more than a thousand interviews and five years of research, Summers traces Nixon's entire career, revealing a man driven by an addiction to power and intrigue. His subversion of democracy during Watergate was the culmination of years of cynical political manipulation. New evidence suggests the former president had problems with alcohol and prescription drugs, was mentally unstable, and was abusive to his wife, Pat. Summers discloses previously unrevealed facts about Nixon's role in the plots against Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende, his sabotage of the Vietnam peace talks in 1968, and his acceptance of funds from dubious sources. "The Arrogance of Power" shows how the actions of one tormented man influenced fifty years of American history, in ways still reverberating today.