Impious and amoral, petty and vindictive, Richard Nixon is not the typical protagonist of a religious biography. But spiritual drama is at the heart of this former president’s tragic story.
“Silliman writes with the flair of a journalist, the eye of an investigative reporter, and the instincts of a highly trained historian. (Off-stage, he actually is all of those things: journalist, reporter, and historian.) Whatever one’s view of Nixon’s policies, Silliman makes a powerful case that he was a man obsessed with his work, tortured by self-doubt, and perennially searching for the God he never could quite find. Silliman’s portrait of Nixon’s religion is a moving and sterling addition to the LRB’s distinguished shelf list.”
—Grant Wacker, author of One Soul at a Time: The Story of Billy Graham
“This beautifully written book not only brims with historical insights; it is deeply moving. Silliman helpfully chronicles Nixon’s exploits with various religious movements and leaders throughout his life and career. But more importantly, Silliman’s unique contribution is his breathtaking and affecting depth of analysis of the spiritual struggles of a man who labored for grace and longed for acceptance.”
—Aaron L. Griffith, author of God’s Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America
“It’s impossible to understand our crazy current moment at the intersection of politics and religion without understanding how the twentieth century led us here. And it’s impossible to understand the twentieth century without understanding Richard Nixon. With riveting storytelling, Daniel Silliman submerges the reader both in the tricky psychology of this brilliant, tragic man and in the social forces that transformed his world and ours. This book broke into my mind like a door at the Watergate Hotel.”
—Russell Moore, editor in chief, Christianity Today
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Daniel Silliman is the news editor for Christianity Today. He earned a doctorate in American studies from Heidelberg University in Germany and has taught US history and humanities at Heidelberg, the University of Notre Dame, Valparaiso University, and Milligan University.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Salvation by Work, 1913–1933
2. Cold Warrior Christian, 1948
3. The Checkers Prayer, 1952
4. The Religion Issue, 1960
5. The Highest Mandate, 1968
6. Church in the White House, 1969
7. Peace, Peace, but There Is No Peace, 1969–1973
8. To Be a Great Man, 1972
9. The Final Judgment, 1974
10. Redeeming Himself, 1974–1994
Acknowledgments
A Note on Sources
Select Bibliography
Index
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