Some books uplift the reader's mood to the pinnacle of literary bliss , some , do more. They compel change. This was one such.
Carson's expose of DDT's carcinogenic effect, its contamination of entire food chains , genetic mutilation and wholesale wiping out of biological species in her seminal work, 'Silent Spring' compelled US to ban it and made environmental impact an integral concern in policy making. Seymour Hersh's unwrapping of the gruesome manslaughter of innocent Vietnamese by US army in Son Mai cluster of villages in 'My Lai 4' hastened American troop withdrawal from Vietnam.
In the even more impactful, 'All The President's Men' Woodstein peeled layers after layers of lies , subversion of processes of law, perjury, and obstruction of justice by Nixon administration. Enough for a discredited, some said crooked, President, Richard Nixon to make an ignominious exit within nine months of its publication. The only incumbent President to step down in American history.
To refresh, it all started with a simple at an office of the Democratic Party in the Watergate complex in Washington. That the burglars wore business suits and carried bugging equipments seemed queer to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein( the couple got referred to as Woodstein). They kept digging and the scope of the investigation kept bafflingly widening till it enveloped the White House itself.
This journey, the first hand account of Woodstein as it happened in real time is wonderfully scripted, keeping the reader riveted and even more thrilled than any fictional detective story. As official disclaimers get busted and truths gradually unravel adrenalin levels soar.
Elderly bibliophiles would have read this book. For the young - the millennials and GenZ , the Nixonian era , fifty years past, may seem too remote to affect the present. Nothing could be farther from truth.
This book is an all-time lighthouse for safe navigation of democracy. It flashes red under an unscrupulous, vindictive and crooked elected executive head.
Richard Nixon created a private 'deep state' fiercely loyal to him to do his dirty tricks. Institutions including FBI , CIA , Grand Juries, Prosecutors were compromised to subvert due and just processes of law in order to insulate himself and protect his croonies.
That he failed is a tribute to the robustness of checks and balances on exercise of power by the executive head embedded in the polity. When these institutions buckled under executive heat, one watchdog stood firm, unyielding - the fourth estate, the last sentinel of democracy.
Woodstein exposed the ugly criminal underbelly of Nixon 'owned deep state' and buried a sick presidency in the political graveyard. Once again emphasizing that a vigilant press is a sine qua non for a functioning democracy.
A gripping adventure of two young, intrepid journos tenaciously pursuing truth against cross winds of vicious cover- up directed from the fountainhead of power.
Truely, a masterpiece of journalistic investigation.
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