Friday, July 31, 2009

Extremely Premature Review

I'm about 70 pages into Nixonland, and it's written in a light, graceful style that will be very helpful come page 600 or so. However, one unfortunate element of that style that may prevent me from ever reaching that benchmark: one-sentence paragraphs. Seriously, they are everywhere. I'm relatively certain I've already seen more in this book than I have in every other history I've ever read in my life combined. Sometimes they are piled on top of each other like an e.e. cummings poem. (Check out page 60 of the paperback edition for an example.) If the single-sentence graph appears more than once every 50 pages or so, and especially absent any dramatic change of direction or surprise, the book inevitably reads like a cheap sports-page column, regardless of the subject matter.

But it's essentially a minor complaint; the book's quite good. 

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