Do you remember, your President Nixon?

If you have a political junkie on your gift list, then consider Rick Perlstein's Nixonland. Yes it is expensive, but it is also long so your dollar per page is still decent. Having been just a baby in the Nixon years, I never experienced them, so it is fascinating to see how the politics of this time influenced our own.

I am only about a fifth of the way through, but Perlsteins amazing research, knack for telling a good story and for managing all the complex parts of the stories he tells are obvious. It helps that he has chosen such a fascinating person and question. His question is how did the US go from electing LBJ in a landslide in 1964 to electing Nixon in a landslide in 1972? The book is about Nixon, but it mostly about American politics and how Nixon's mastery of politics allowed him to direct as well as ride the national mood. For those looking for a deeper look at American politics, this is a must read.