Being Nixon: A Man Divided

How it reads

Being Nixon: A Man Divided is biography (political biography, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in several locations, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are power and politics, identity and loss and grief. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 640 pages it's a real commitment. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.