On the Presence of the Past

By Rick Perlstein

Created 06/04/2008 - 11:58am

Summary:

"Do Americans not hate each other enough to fantasize about killing one another, in cold blood, over political and cultural disagreements?" I wrote in "Nixonland." "It would be hard to argue they do not." In a review of my book, Elizabeth Drew responded, "Well, I, for one, don't find it so hard." Between the time she wrote those words and the time they were published, Senator Edward M. Kennedy's brain tumor was announced.

This past Sunday I received a review in the Washington Post by Elizabeth Drew [1] which, while kind and thoughtful, contained at least one empirical falsehood (actually, at least two empirical falsehoods: Richard Nixon did buy a townhouse on Fifth Avenue, not 65th Street, after his forced retirement).