Review: Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush V. Gore

Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush V. Gore by James T. Patterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Historical author James Patterson assesses the twenty-seven years between the resignation of Richard Nixon and the contested election of George W. Bush. This narrative encompasses social, cultural, political, economic, and international developments in a context of "culture wars" between liberals and conservatives. At times, such as calling Gulf War Syndrome a "conspiracy" and with criticisms of sex, etc. in art I feel Patterson is possibly much more conservative than I, yet I feel this does not detract from his historical review and indeed I feel this book, which was for me a very natural and good follow-up to Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford, does more to explain the basis for and path to the current divisiveness in popular political views. I feel this will even be worth re-reading for the detail and connections contained herein.


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