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Title: Richard Nixon: The Shaping of His Character by Fawn McKay Brodie ISBN: 0393014673 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 1981 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95

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Average Customer Rating: 2.5

Rating: 3
Summary: nixon analyzed
Comment: a somewhat critical discussion of nixon's personality and the theories of how he became the man who was eventually impeached. some valid points inthe book that i was unaware of before and then some points which i just sat back and sighed about

Rating: 2
Summary: A Perfect Example of Propaganda as History...
Comment: Dr. Fawn Brodie, who died in 1981, earned a reputation in her lifetime as one of the most controversial historians in America. The product of a strict Mormon upbringing, she rebelled against her faith to become an outspoken feminist and critic of all things she deemed conservative. She also pioneered a new type of historical biography - the "psychoanalytical" school of historiography. Not only did Dr. Brodie write about the lives, successes and/or failures of her subjects, she also attempted to "go deeper" and, using psychology, analyze the motivations and psyches of her subjects. At times her (then) original approach could reap handsome rewards, such as when, in her still-controversial "intimate" biography of Thomas Jefferson, she argued that he had had an affair with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings. Many historians hotly disputed this, but her claims were proven to be true when DNA testing done a few years ago revealed that Jefferson had fathered at least one of Hemmings' children. However, there are also major weaknesses with the "psychological" approach to history, in that it is difficult to analyze someone you've never met, and can lead to mistakes. In this biography of Richard Nixon - her last book before her death - Brodie examines a man whom she admitted to "despising" long before she even began her research. And, unfortunately, this biography is littered from beginning to end with Dr. Brodie's loathing for Richard Nixon and everything connected with him. From his childhood forward Nixon is consistently viewed in the worst possible light. The book is also filled with numerous errors in judgement, as well as factual errors. For example, Brodie finds great significance in a letter that Nixon wrote as a schoolboy. Nixon wrote the letter as if he were a pitiful dog who was being abused by his "master". Brodie argues that this letter "proves" that Nixon was an abused child, and that his father probably beat him. However, research by later historians has proven that this letter was actually done as part of a class assignment, and that ALL of the kids in Nixon's class wrote the same letter - so Brodie's conclusions are obviously flawed. In another telling passage, Brodie harshly criticizes Nixon for his 1950 Senate campaign against Helen Douglas, his Democratic opponent. She accuses Nixon of "smearing" poor Mrs. Douglas as a Communist (Nixon's nickname for her in the campaign was the "Pink Lady"). What she never mentions is that the "Communist" charge was first aimed at Mrs. Douglas by her opponent in the Democratic primary, not Nixon, and that Mrs. Douglas, far from being an "innocent" victim, actually started the mudslinging by trying to accuse Nixon of being a Communist and/or Nazi-type leader! One does not have to be an admirer of Mr. Nixon to realize that this "biography" is anything but impartial or fair-minded. Indeed, later historians have regarded this book as the original "hatchet job" on Nixon, and a work which has been copied by other "Nixon haters". If you want to read a truly fair-minded (and far superior) book about Nixon, I'd recommend reading Stephen Ambrose's excellent "Nixon: The Education of a Politician" - it's much more objective, well-researched, and even-handed - instead of this hopelessly biased "psychological" analysis.