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Conspiracy: Nixon, Watergate, and Democracy's Defenders
The story of President Richard Nixon and those who fought against him comes to life in this insightful and accessible nonfiction middle grade book from the author of Fly Girls and Fighting for the Forest.
The Watergate scandal created one of the greatest constitutional crises in American history. When the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon and the Supreme Court ruled that he had to turn over to Congress the tapes that proved the claims against him, he realized his support in the Senate had collapsed. He resigned rather than face almost certain conviction on abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
We know the villain’s story well, but what about the heroes? When the country’s own leader turned his back on the Constitution, who was there to defend it?
Catching an American Villain is about the reporters, prosecutors, judges, justices, members of Congress, and members of the public who supported and defended the Constitution when it needed it most.
The Watergate scandal created one of the greatest constitutional crises in American history. When the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon and the Supreme Court ruled that he had to turn over to Congress the tapes that proved the claims against him, he realized his support in the Senate had collapsed. He resigned rather than face almost certain conviction on abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
We know the villain’s story well, but what about the heroes? When the country’s own leader turned his back on the Constitution, who was there to defend it?
Catching an American Villain is about the reporters, prosecutors, judges, justices, members of Congress, and members of the public who supported and defended the Constitution when it needed it most.
277 pages, Hardcover
Published October 13, 2020
5 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
P. O’Connell Pearson
6 books14 followersP. O'Connell Pearson spent many happy years teaching history and now writes about history for ages ten and up. She looks for stories in American history that may not be well-known, and she especially likes stories that have meaning for today. She's written about women who broke barriers to serve their country in wartime, a government at its best facing economic and environmental disaster, and people who stepped up to defend the Constitution when a president violated his oath and threatened democracy.
Her debut nonfiction Fly Girls: The Daring American Women Pilots Who Helped Win WWII won the 2020 Grand Canyon Readers Award for Best Tween Nonfiction. Fighting for the Forest: How FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps Helped Save America was a finalist for the New York Historical Society Children's History Book prize. And Conspiracy: Nixon, Watergate, and Democracy's Defenders released in October, 2020.
When she is not writing or researching, Pearson can often be found telling the stories of history as a volunteer with the National Park Service in Washington, DC.
Her debut nonfiction Fly Girls: The Daring American Women Pilots Who Helped Win WWII won the 2020 Grand Canyon Readers Award for Best Tween Nonfiction. Fighting for the Forest: How FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps Helped Save America was a finalist for the New York Historical Society Children's History Book prize. And Conspiracy: Nixon, Watergate, and Democracy's Defenders released in October, 2020.
When she is not writing or researching, Pearson can often be found telling the stories of history as a volunteer with the National Park Service in Washington, DC.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 31, 2020
I should already know most of this I'm sure but I didn't and I was riveted. Patty (who, full disclosure, I interviewed for a podcast) does an excellent job of explaining the complicated history without making it drudgery. This is for a younger audience, but it's an excellent primer for adults, too.
July 16, 2025
Incredible book. Would recommend to anyone interested in learning about Watergate, but LOVE how it’s written for children. Author takes time to explain complicated governmental processes and does so without disrupting flow of the story. Emphasis on the people’s responsibility to know, uphold, and protect the Constitution. I also really enjoyed the profiles of different players - recognizing patriots along multiple party lines, demographics, and employment who stood firm in the line.
September 10, 2022
I couldn’t give it 4 stars bc it is kind of dry, but it’s an excellent book to recommend to students. The author does a phenomenal job of explaining how the Watergate story broke and how the various trials worked. The book also has little break out sections that explain things like what are special prosecutors or what is impeachment or obstruction of justice. It’s a handy little read!
July 4, 2025
history really does have a way of repeating itself
February 6, 2021
Richie’s Picks: CONSPIRACY: NIXON, WATERGATE, AND DEMOCRACY’S DEFENDERS by P. O’Connell Pearson, Simon & Schuster, October 2020, 288p., ISBN: 978-1-5344-8003-2
“And in your dreams, you can see yourself as a prophet
Saving the world, the words from your lips
‘I am not a crook’
I just can’t believe you are such a fool”
-- Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention singing about Richard Nixon (1974)
“Trump believes in a purely transactional version of life. If he scratches your back--or appoints you to the Supreme Court--you are expected to return the favor. He calls his judicial appointees ‘my judges,’ and has referred to judges appointed by his predecessor as ‘Obama judges.’ It’s a label Chief Justice John Roberts and other judges have pushed back against.”
-- Huffington Post (10/24/19)
“The Supreme Court smacks down Trump’s last hope of an election lawsuit from Texas”
-- The Young Turks (12/11/20)
Trump repeatedly expressed confidence that, if necessary, the Supreme Court would have his back. Back in the Seventies, Richard Nixon had similarly misplaced expectations about the willingness of GOP lawmakers and GOP-appointed judges to condone his and his subordinates' lawlessness. Considering that Nixon had appointed FOUR of the nine justices who, at that time, constituted the Supreme Court, it was fortunate for America that the system worked. Like Trump, Nixon was repeatedly smacked down, beginning with the judge who handled the trial of the Watergate burglars.
“[Judge John] Sirica wasn’t one of those rich-family elite, Ivy League lawyers or judges Niixon despised. John Sirica had grown up poor in a two-room apartment with his immigrant parents. As a teenager, he worked for a garbage collector to help his family pay the bills. Eventually, he went to Georgetown University Law School while earning tuition money as a boxing instructor. He even boxed professionally for a short time before practicing law. That was the kind of toughness Nixon admired.
But John Sirica was more than tough and a conservative. He also believed wholeheartedly in the law. As the trial date drew nearer, he surprised Nixon and his men.”
CONSPIRACY is a riveting work of narrative nonfiction recounting the history of the Watergate scandal that ended the presidency of Richard Nixon. Impeccably researched by a former history teacher-turned-author, this thrilling blow-by-blow account of the two-year Watergate scandal is eye-opening American history. P. O’Connell Pearson makes the story accessible to middle grade and middle schoolers by including questions and answers that clarify complexities in our system of government and in the judicial process.
CONSPIRACY is a particularly interesting book for today, because the crimes and dirty tricks committed by Nixon and company were comparable to those later engaged in by the Trump administration. Late last year, an article in the NY Times revealed the way that Erik Prince, whose war criminal employees were pardoned by Trump, ”has in recent years helped recruit former American and British spies for secretive intelligence gathering operations…” The operations “included infiltrating Democratic congressional campaigns, labor unions, and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda.” These dirty tricks were similar to those used by Nixon’s people to torpedo Edmund Muskie’s 1972 presidential primary campaign. As a result, a weaker Democratic candidate won the Democratic nomination.
I wonder whether recordings from Trump’s Oval Office meetings will ever see the light of day. When the Supreme Court required Nixon to turn over the tapes of his meetings, there was confirmation of the multitude of crimes recounted by John Dean, James McCord, and other defendants-turned-witnesses. Eventually, the bombshell--that Nixon was in on the crimes from the start--led directly to Nixon’s resignation.:
“Six days later, on Monday August 5, Nixon released three more tapes. They were tapes he had kept hidden not only from the special prosecutors, his staff, and the House Judiciary Committee, but also from his own lawyers. One was from June 23, 1972--six days after the Watergate break-in. During a long meeting, Nixon’s chief of staff brought up several issues. At one point he said,
‘Now, on the investigation...the Democratic break-in thing, we’re back in the problem area because the FBI is not under control...they’ve been able to trace the money...The way to handle this now is for us to have [the CIA] call [the FBI] and just say, ‘Stay...out of this--we don’t want you to go any further.’
Nixon replied, ‘Right, fine.’ Then he suggested phony excuses the CIA could use to stop the FBI’s investigation.
That was it--the smoking gun, the ultimate witness.”
In CONSPIRACY: NIXON, WATERGATE, AND DEMOCRACY’S DEFENDERS, we learn about the characters involved in the crimes and about democracy’s defenders. There are highlights of the Senate Watergate Committee hearings, the special prosecutor’s grand jury process, and the House Impeachment committee hearings.
The author underlines the lesson that elected and appointed officials ultimately work for the citizenry. Too many of the officials in Nixon’s orbit got carried away. It’s stunning to read the long list of illegal actions to which John Dean and James McCord admitted. Their fervor for Nixon had caused them to do things that they’d known were illegal.
Now that the Constitution has survived another criminal administration, one that in many ways paralleled Nixon’s, let’s hope it won’t be tested again for a while.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
“And in your dreams, you can see yourself as a prophet
Saving the world, the words from your lips
‘I am not a crook’
I just can’t believe you are such a fool”
-- Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention singing about Richard Nixon (1974)
“Trump believes in a purely transactional version of life. If he scratches your back--or appoints you to the Supreme Court--you are expected to return the favor. He calls his judicial appointees ‘my judges,’ and has referred to judges appointed by his predecessor as ‘Obama judges.’ It’s a label Chief Justice John Roberts and other judges have pushed back against.”
-- Huffington Post (10/24/19)
“The Supreme Court smacks down Trump’s last hope of an election lawsuit from Texas”
-- The Young Turks (12/11/20)
Trump repeatedly expressed confidence that, if necessary, the Supreme Court would have his back. Back in the Seventies, Richard Nixon had similarly misplaced expectations about the willingness of GOP lawmakers and GOP-appointed judges to condone his and his subordinates' lawlessness. Considering that Nixon had appointed FOUR of the nine justices who, at that time, constituted the Supreme Court, it was fortunate for America that the system worked. Like Trump, Nixon was repeatedly smacked down, beginning with the judge who handled the trial of the Watergate burglars.
“[Judge John] Sirica wasn’t one of those rich-family elite, Ivy League lawyers or judges Niixon despised. John Sirica had grown up poor in a two-room apartment with his immigrant parents. As a teenager, he worked for a garbage collector to help his family pay the bills. Eventually, he went to Georgetown University Law School while earning tuition money as a boxing instructor. He even boxed professionally for a short time before practicing law. That was the kind of toughness Nixon admired.
But John Sirica was more than tough and a conservative. He also believed wholeheartedly in the law. As the trial date drew nearer, he surprised Nixon and his men.”
CONSPIRACY is a riveting work of narrative nonfiction recounting the history of the Watergate scandal that ended the presidency of Richard Nixon. Impeccably researched by a former history teacher-turned-author, this thrilling blow-by-blow account of the two-year Watergate scandal is eye-opening American history. P. O’Connell Pearson makes the story accessible to middle grade and middle schoolers by including questions and answers that clarify complexities in our system of government and in the judicial process.
CONSPIRACY is a particularly interesting book for today, because the crimes and dirty tricks committed by Nixon and company were comparable to those later engaged in by the Trump administration. Late last year, an article in the NY Times revealed the way that Erik Prince, whose war criminal employees were pardoned by Trump, ”has in recent years helped recruit former American and British spies for secretive intelligence gathering operations…” The operations “included infiltrating Democratic congressional campaigns, labor unions, and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda.” These dirty tricks were similar to those used by Nixon’s people to torpedo Edmund Muskie’s 1972 presidential primary campaign. As a result, a weaker Democratic candidate won the Democratic nomination.
I wonder whether recordings from Trump’s Oval Office meetings will ever see the light of day. When the Supreme Court required Nixon to turn over the tapes of his meetings, there was confirmation of the multitude of crimes recounted by John Dean, James McCord, and other defendants-turned-witnesses. Eventually, the bombshell--that Nixon was in on the crimes from the start--led directly to Nixon’s resignation.:
“Six days later, on Monday August 5, Nixon released three more tapes. They were tapes he had kept hidden not only from the special prosecutors, his staff, and the House Judiciary Committee, but also from his own lawyers. One was from June 23, 1972--six days after the Watergate break-in. During a long meeting, Nixon’s chief of staff brought up several issues. At one point he said,
‘Now, on the investigation...the Democratic break-in thing, we’re back in the problem area because the FBI is not under control...they’ve been able to trace the money...The way to handle this now is for us to have [the CIA] call [the FBI] and just say, ‘Stay...out of this--we don’t want you to go any further.’
Nixon replied, ‘Right, fine.’ Then he suggested phony excuses the CIA could use to stop the FBI’s investigation.
That was it--the smoking gun, the ultimate witness.”
In CONSPIRACY: NIXON, WATERGATE, AND DEMOCRACY’S DEFENDERS, we learn about the characters involved in the crimes and about democracy’s defenders. There are highlights of the Senate Watergate Committee hearings, the special prosecutor’s grand jury process, and the House Impeachment committee hearings.
The author underlines the lesson that elected and appointed officials ultimately work for the citizenry. Too many of the officials in Nixon’s orbit got carried away. It’s stunning to read the long list of illegal actions to which John Dean and James McCord admitted. Their fervor for Nixon had caused them to do things that they’d known were illegal.
Now that the Constitution has survived another criminal administration, one that in many ways paralleled Nixon’s, let’s hope it won’t be tested again for a while.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
May 13, 2021
Written to a middle-school audience, this book provides a condensed and informative look into the Watergate scandal and how Americans restored balance to the constitution. Because of the mystery involved in this scandal, the book becomes a real page-turner. Even though I knew how it ended, the developing story compelled me on.
My personal takeaway from this book is how crucial our constitution is to the survival of America. Specifically how the freedom of press, freedom of speech, the right to assemble, and the balance of power all combine to protect our nation. The very soul of our country was threatened during Nixon's "reign," as he committed crimes to cover up crimes and convinced others to do the same in the name of the President of the United States. Sickening. Gut wrenching. Unethical and immoral wrong-doings confused with loyalty and dismissed as acceptable under the ruse of "executive privilege." However, the principles of separation of powers, protected by the Constitution, eventually saved the day. And because of that, Truth prevailed.
In the end, "that's the real lesson of Watergate. The framers designed a remarkable Constitution with built-in safeguards against any one person's abuse of power. But that Constitution is just words on a page if individual Americans don't make it work in the real world... We the People. The American people, all of them, are the engine that makes the system work." (p. 243)
Unfortunately, we are not immune to threats of tyrrany and corruption in government. They still exist. The solution? Step up, people. Stand up for the right. This is our country! We the People. Vote. Speak. Write. Be heard! Protect the Constitution. Without it, America falls.
My personal takeaway from this book is how crucial our constitution is to the survival of America. Specifically how the freedom of press, freedom of speech, the right to assemble, and the balance of power all combine to protect our nation. The very soul of our country was threatened during Nixon's "reign," as he committed crimes to cover up crimes and convinced others to do the same in the name of the President of the United States. Sickening. Gut wrenching. Unethical and immoral wrong-doings confused with loyalty and dismissed as acceptable under the ruse of "executive privilege." However, the principles of separation of powers, protected by the Constitution, eventually saved the day. And because of that, Truth prevailed.
In the end, "that's the real lesson of Watergate. The framers designed a remarkable Constitution with built-in safeguards against any one person's abuse of power. But that Constitution is just words on a page if individual Americans don't make it work in the real world... We the People. The American people, all of them, are the engine that makes the system work." (p. 243)
Unfortunately, we are not immune to threats of tyrrany and corruption in government. They still exist. The solution? Step up, people. Stand up for the right. This is our country! We the People. Vote. Speak. Write. Be heard! Protect the Constitution. Without it, America falls.
October 11, 2021
Conspiracy is a book that centers around two reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and how they set aside their differences to research and report on the watergate scandal involving Richard Nixon and his associates. What I like about this book is that it is very concise and doesn’t have a lot of suspensions and gets straight to the point. Another thing I like about this book is that it speaks about Nixon’s presidency in the first few chapters, so before the book stops talking about him directly, the readers get a bit of a backstory about the events that led up to the robbery at the watergate leading to his resignation. The only complaint I have about this book is that it can jump around from one person to the next without any explanation which can be a bit confusing, but the does happen few times. Overall I think this is a great book for people who want a basic understanding of the watergate scandal or people who want to know a bit about Nixon’s presidency. I give this book a 5/5
October 11, 2021
Conspiracy is a book that centers around two reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and how they set aside their differences to research and report on the watergate scandal involving Richard Nixon and his associates. What I like about this book is that it is very concise and doesn’t have a lot of suspensions and gets straight to the point. Another thing I like about this book is that it speaks about Nixon’s presidency in the first few chapters, so before the book stops talking about him directly, the readers get a bit of a backstory about the events that led up to the robbery at the watergate leading to his resignation. The only complaint I have about this book is that it can jump around from one person to the next without any explanation which can be a bit confusing, but the does happen few times. Overall I think this is a great book for people who want a basic understanding of the watergate scandal or people who want to know a bit about Nixon’s presidency. I give this book a 5/5
May 22, 2021
A complete breakdown of the Watergate scandal for youth. It gets into how the scandal was uncovered, how it went down and how Nixen was able to pull it off originally. If you know the case this won't be new information, but if you don't it's an engaging narrative of deception, power and the fight for the truth.
As I get older I feel like I don't know history all that well and this topic was one that I felt I had no understanding of. But I didn't want to read a long (and boring) explanation of what went down. This book did an excellent job shaping the information in an exciting narrative that felt like a mystery and had all the drama of a reality tv show.
A great recommendation for someone who struggles to read nonfiction but needs a nonfiction book. Also a good recommendation for someone who's looking for action/drama/mystery or just wants to know more about history.
As I get older I feel like I don't know history all that well and this topic was one that I felt I had no understanding of. But I didn't want to read a long (and boring) explanation of what went down. This book did an excellent job shaping the information in an exciting narrative that felt like a mystery and had all the drama of a reality tv show.
A great recommendation for someone who struggles to read nonfiction but needs a nonfiction book. Also a good recommendation for someone who's looking for action/drama/mystery or just wants to know more about history.
November 25, 2020
I actually couldn't put this book down. It was a fast, fascinating, and accessible ride through the Watergate scandal, which was an even more complicated affair than I had realized. Pearson leads the reader through the events as they unfolded, and introduces you to the complex cast of characters one by one, so it never feels overwhelming. I learned so much--not just about Watergate, but also about the Constitution, the legal process, how our federal government works, etc. And it was a page-turner! I had to keep shooing my family away so I could finish. I'm planning to buy copies for my mom friends... this would be great to read as a family, alongside your teens. This book has the potential to empower people of all ages to become more critical and active participants in our democracy.
May 29, 2024
This book should be a template for how history classes should be taught. Though I had some general knowledge pertaining to the Watergate scandal, this book was super informative. It provided an easy to follow along with cast of characters and made the complicated network of people involved in the scandal, very digestible. While the book is about Watergate, Pearson provides refreshing supplementary contextual knowledge about the Nixon presidency and each person involved, including their former roles. Though it was informative on its own, it peaked curiosity and I found myself conducting side research each chapter and even tuning into some archival footage of interviews. This book was overall a 5/5 and I am extremely sad that it is over.
January 21, 2025
Conspiracy is most possibly the most riveting retelling of the Water gate Scandal. The amount of detail that goes into the story truly shows just how attentive of a writer P. O'Connell Pearson is. The Watergate scandal should be something that everyone should know about, but reading this book truly reveals just how much there is to truly know about this event. I personally loved the way she brought the reporters to center light in a way that no other author has spotlighting the gruesome and tiring work that Woodword and Bernstein did to report to the people, to be the whistle-blowers that history needed. I particularly liked the way the author lays out the story bringing the truth to light, to see the depth of such a historically detrimental event.
May 27, 2023
For younger readers. Good, digestible intro to the subject-matter.
“Here was the grand jury made up of ordinary citizens ..., some of them poor people, telling the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, to turn over the tapes. If there ever was a moment that gave meaning to the idea that in our democracy, the people govern themselves, that was it.” - Judge Sirica, who presided over the Watergate trials
- Significant impact on public trust in government institutions, which never regained pre-Watergate levels till now
- conflict between loyalty to the president and upholding the constitution for civil servants
- No one is above the law, even the president
- They subpoenaed a president, and the Supreme Court ruled in favour (see United States v. Nixon, 1974)
- Racist convo recorded between Nixon and Reagan in the White House
- List of crimes include obstruction of justice, abuse of power, perjury, bribery and unethical campaign smearing and interference
- june 23 tape was the smoking gun in revealing how Nixon was fully aware of the cover-up following the break-in and wilfully participated in the obstruction of justice. Subsequently lost Republican support and impeachment was highly likely to pass through
“Here was the grand jury made up of ordinary citizens ..., some of them poor people, telling the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, to turn over the tapes. If there ever was a moment that gave meaning to the idea that in our democracy, the people govern themselves, that was it.” - Judge Sirica, who presided over the Watergate trials
- Significant impact on public trust in government institutions, which never regained pre-Watergate levels till now
- conflict between loyalty to the president and upholding the constitution for civil servants
- No one is above the law, even the president
- They subpoenaed a president, and the Supreme Court ruled in favour (see United States v. Nixon, 1974)
- Racist convo recorded between Nixon and Reagan in the White House
- List of crimes include obstruction of justice, abuse of power, perjury, bribery and unethical campaign smearing and interference
- june 23 tape was the smoking gun in revealing how Nixon was fully aware of the cover-up following the break-in and wilfully participated in the obstruction of justice. Subsequently lost Republican support and impeachment was highly likely to pass through
July 9, 2022
True to its name, Conspiracy focuses primarily on the actions taken by Nixon and his men to cover up the Watergate breakin and the efforts made by journalists, Congress, and special prosecutors to unravel the multiple ways in which the president and his administration deceived the public and defied the judiciary and legislative branches. The affair became a battle over how far presidential privilege extends. It marked the end of an era in which many Americans felt they could trust a president, regardless whether they liked or agreed with his policies.
While Pearson generally avoids comparisons to 2020, readers can see current events as a similar version of the waning days of Nixon's presidency. There are many differences, not the least of which is the proliferation of media outlets today that are more reflective of political ideologies than of delivering news. Still, a president's influence and power were wielded with devastating results, and sadly Nixon was not the last to attempt to do so.
While Pearson generally avoids comparisons to 2020, readers can see current events as a similar version of the waning days of Nixon's presidency. There are many differences, not the least of which is the proliferation of media outlets today that are more reflective of political ideologies than of delivering news. Still, a president's influence and power were wielded with devastating results, and sadly Nixon was not the last to attempt to do so.
March 12, 2021
Solid introduction into the scandal that rocked a nation. Nixon's cover up of the Watergate break ins and how the press and democracy won out.
The book takes you through not only the scandal that was Watergate, but all of the illegal and underhanded things that were going on inside the White House.
The book takes you through not only the scandal that was Watergate, but all of the illegal and underhanded things that were going on inside the White House.
November 30, 2020
Brilliant, engaging, enlightening, and clear. Pearson's accuracy and careful detail reveal a comprehension of a puzzling chain of events, even to those of us who lived through it!
April 25, 2022
This is not the type of book I would normally pick up. I was not sure if I was going to like this book or not. Surprisingly I found it very informative and it kept my attention.
March 13, 2022
Stopping a rogue politician before ambition and greed drag the country into disaster turns out to be pretty important. In an exciting page-turner, Pearson lays out how reporters uncovered the crimes that brought the Nixon presidency down and how other politicians, judges and government employees risked everything to uphold the Constitution and ensure our freedom. Fast-paced and exciting. It is as if All the Presidents Men was updated in book format for young readers.
September 5, 2021
“Richard Nixon wanted to be a great president. By 1972, however, his dark side became too strong” (21).
You may think you know all about the Watergate scandal that brought down a president because you’ve watched the movie “All the President’s Men” that focused on the Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein and followed the money. But this nonfiction narrative about Watergate focuses on the many heroes who stood up to protect our Constitution during this crisis. These heroes were not only reporters, but also judges, prosecutors, justices, members of Congress and even the American public. These “We the People” proved that the system developed by the framers works.
This well-written book is easily approachable by a middle school or high school audience. After the author presents info that might be confusing to a YA reader, the author stops the story and asks (and answers) a question. For example, after explaining about the “dirty tricks” campaign against 1972 Democratic presidential candidates, the author wrote: “Wait. Can they do that?”
The writing style is informative but clear and puts the details in context and provides brief definitions as needed, such as defining subpoena and ulcer. Also, it includes an impressive bibliography, a Watergate timeline, a cast of characters, endnotes, and an index. Plus, the author includes extensive primary sources: photographs of the key players, quotes from official documents, photos of evidence (such as a page from one of the Watergate burglar’s address book), and even the subpoena issued to Nixon to get his infamous tape recordings.
It was fascinating to learn that there were actually multiple official and separate investigations around Watergate and President Nixon’s involvement and that even the Supreme Court was involved toward the end. Highly recommended.
You may think you know all about the Watergate scandal that brought down a president because you’ve watched the movie “All the President’s Men” that focused on the Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein and followed the money. But this nonfiction narrative about Watergate focuses on the many heroes who stood up to protect our Constitution during this crisis. These heroes were not only reporters, but also judges, prosecutors, justices, members of Congress and even the American public. These “We the People” proved that the system developed by the framers works.
This well-written book is easily approachable by a middle school or high school audience. After the author presents info that might be confusing to a YA reader, the author stops the story and asks (and answers) a question. For example, after explaining about the “dirty tricks” campaign against 1972 Democratic presidential candidates, the author wrote: “Wait. Can they do that?”
The writing style is informative but clear and puts the details in context and provides brief definitions as needed, such as defining subpoena and ulcer. Also, it includes an impressive bibliography, a Watergate timeline, a cast of characters, endnotes, and an index. Plus, the author includes extensive primary sources: photographs of the key players, quotes from official documents, photos of evidence (such as a page from one of the Watergate burglar’s address book), and even the subpoena issued to Nixon to get his infamous tape recordings.
It was fascinating to learn that there were actually multiple official and separate investigations around Watergate and President Nixon’s involvement and that even the Supreme Court was involved toward the end. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews