Testimonials

"In a fast-moving, richly researched volume that breaks new ground, Kasey S. Pipes describes that most improbable of political journeys, the post-presidential return of Richard Nixon, this time to the private role of advising Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton on foreign policy. Drawing on private Nixon family records, letters and memos, Pipes shows the former president was far more active in helping shape America’s grand global strategy – and more successful – than previously realized, even as he suffered political exile. The story is a must for anyone wanting to understand Nixon’s life after Watergate."

"Three-and-a-half years after departing the White House in disgrace, on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, Richard Nixon contemplated the future. “I had to decide,” he wrote, “what to do with the rest of my life.” The road less traveled in Nixon scholarship is the twenty year span following his presidency. In After the Fall, Kasey Pipes fills in the missing parts of this journey. Its apt subtitle is “The Remarkable Comeback of Richard Nixon.” Nixon’s regeneration was remarkable. So is this book."

"Based on his exclusive access to Nixon’s post-presidential papers, Kasey Pipes has written a fascinating account of Richard M. Nixon’s last and greatest personal crisis: rebuilding his credibility after Watergate. Pipes has mastered and carefully weighed the facts and he tells the story well."

"Kasey S. Pipes’ 'After the Fall' is a book worth reading; it is also a book worth thinking about in deeply reflective ways. At one level it is an insightful chronicle of Richard Nixon’s return to grace as he deftly uses his foreign policy expertise as the vehicle to establish new relationships with policy makers, politicians, and the public. Pipes’ depiction of the eulogies for Nixon by Senator Dole and President Clinton reads as a evocative exclamation point for this ground breaking story of Nixon’s successful twenty year return journey. Yet at another, more reflective, level it is a study in the power of resilience ,determination and character in shaping a life. Nixon’s to be sure, but more broadly perhaps, our own as well."