The Anxious years

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Covering the period that began with the major influx of U.S. combat troops to Vietnam and ended with the pardon of Richard Nixon, McQuaid ( Big Business and Presidential Power ) attempts to put in perspective what were, in his words, ``unhappy events of a tragic time.'' He shuns the role of detached academician, expressing opinions with a near-aggressive directness. Nixon ``was a cold fish whose woodenness and humorlessness had caused problems for him for years,'' and American attitudes toward the Vietnamese were ``bovine misconceptions and cynical self-justification.'' Observations like these and stylistic excesses (`` . . . Robert Kennedy's life ebbed away in stainless steel surroundings, amid piles of institutional cutlery'') obscure the genuine insights McQuaid has to offer: the distinction between the anti-war movement and the New Left, for example, or an analysis of the Nixon administration's ``government by surprise,'' which the author claims was refined by the Reagan administration. Unfortunately, the reader may be more irritated by the method of delivery than enlightened by the message. (Feb.)

Library Journal

McQuaid (history, Lake Erie College) has written a polemical account of America, focusing on the year 1968, Vietnam, the New Left, and Watergate. Research is rooted in secondary sources, and the narrative is characterized by flippant metaphor and quotability. Original insights are few, but the author has organized and integrated a number of neoconservative perspectives that will challenge traditional interpretations, e.g., William Chafe's The Unfinished Journey (LJ 10/1/85). David Farber's Chicago '68 (LJ 2/1/88) contains a superior explanation of New Left theology and the politics of 1968. Theodore H. White's Breach of Faith (1975) remains the most readable version of Watergate, and quality books on Vietnam are numerous. McQuaid's book elevates eloquence over substance. James L. Jablonowski, Marquette Univ., Milwaukee

Booknews

McQuaid (history, Lake Erie College) examines the turbulent and violent 60's and early 70's. Everything hinged on a debacle called Vietnam. Without Vietnam there would have been no anti-war movement, without the anti-war movement, no fragmentation of the Democratic Party, without the fragmentation of the Democratic Party. No Nixon. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)