About the Author

Daniel Frick is director of the Writing Center and senior adjunct assistant professor of English at Franklin and Marshall College.

Reviews

"Frick has written a valuable book for those of us who are interested not only in Nixon but also in understanding the political world in which we live. . . . Frick has written a book that helps explain why the postwar decades might be the age of Nixon, albeit not in the way that Nixon&8217;s supporters would argue. The book also transcends the topic of Nixon to help us understand what it means when we, so many decades after his presidency, still find ourselves debating his legacy."--American Historical Review"A meditation on the meaning of Richard Nixon in our world. Daniel Frick's knowledge of cultural artifacts such as the political cartoons, campaign ephemera, and pop cultural representations of Nixon is positively encyclopedic."--American Quarterly"An interesting and, at times, lively account of how Nixon is still a cultural icon and a national obsession--and he will be for a long time."--Reviews in American History"[In Frick's book] we are confronted with the many faces (and reinventions) of the man and how those changes have been reflected in the national mood and, of course, in the nation's politics. . . . Nixon is still the most polarizing figure in modern American political history. Frick is even willing to go farther and place Nixon at the very origin of our cultural and political wars . . . For some Americans, Nixon was the devil; for others, he was the true personification of the American myth and the American dream. . . . Frick shows us that there are plenty of examples of both Nixons in the nation's popular culture. Frick makes it clear that the nation will never fully resolve this Nixon dilemma, that America has found very little consensus in its attempts to unearth the real Nixon, his values, his life, even his deeds."--Journal of American History"In this interesting, exhaustive review, Frick explores the many ways Richard Nixon has been represented, and represented himself, in American political life and culture. . . . This is an essential work for anyone interested in the multiple dimensions of Nixon's political career and public reactions to it. It is also an excellent example of cultural analysis."--Choice"Frick explores how Nixon has been portrayed in books, music, plays, and political cartoons, and how he spins himself in his three autobiographies. He interprets Nixon through a number of myths that include rising from rags to riches and fulfilling America's messianic role of being the leader of the free world. Frick is good at showing the dark sides of these myths, and his excellent appraisal reveals as much about the former president's supporters and haters as it does about Nixon himself."--Library Journal

"Senator Bob Dole argued that the last half of the twentieth century was 'the age of Nixon' and Dan Frick shows us why. The Nixon limned here is a mutable public figure constantly reinterpreted by his enemies and his admirers. They all find him an irresistible figure for thinking about who we are, who we want to be, and what we're willing to do to get there. It is a brilliant and scary read."--David Farber, author of The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s"A remarkable book that vividly reminds us of how important Nixon was and is to our own sense of ourselves as a political culture."--Bruce Kuklick, author of Blind Oracles: Intellectuals and War from Kennan to Kissinger