An engrossing account of America during the Vietnam War and election of Ronald Reagan as the President of America in the aftermath of Watergate. The Invisible Bridge chronicles the events in the latter part of the Vietnam War. The author, Rick Perlstein, author of New York Times Bestseller Nixonland highlights the difficult economic conditions of the 70s in America, the devastation in Vietnam, and a detailed account of returning soldiers who were not welcomed by all.
The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan
Author: Rick Perlstein
Hardcover: 880 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Advance Uncorrected Proof edition.
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1476782415
Book Review
The Invisible Bridge is mainly about how the Vietnam War polarized the nation and led people to disbelieve in the traditional position of America on the world map. The Watergate scandal further alienated the Whitehouse and tarnished its sanctity in the mind of the common man. This series of events made the American people doubt their nation and its stature like never before.
In these hopeless times, Ronald Reagan took a position that projected America glorious. A position many political experts believed to be a mistake. Nevertheless, Reagan with his eternal optimism and the picture of a better tomorrow rekindled a dying flame and challenged the popular to emerge victorious.
The author captures the economic trials of the times by citing actual newspaper interviews of American wives and examples of street protests across America against the government to control the spiraling meat prices. Often called as the heyday of American activism in the absence of government interventions, the American public began a meat boycott and gathered support by printing and distributing flyers.
The author also gives a date-by-date and event-by-event account of how Nixon’s government prolonged the war and at the same time used the mass media to paint a rosy picture of what the army was achieving in Vietnam. He recounts the gloomy pictures of American families ravaged by the war and the lack of medical aid to the returning soldiers.
But The Invisible Bridge is not all about war and economic gloom. The author also narrates the life of Ronald Reagan as a kid, through his college years, and his entire political career with amazing depth. He paints the man as an undefeatable character who always saw an opportunity in every failure and in the worst of times. The author chronicles Reagan’s difficult childhood days and how he coped with his shortcomings to rise above all.
You will love to read The Invisible Bridge if you are a history buff and like to read things as they are. The author portrays opinions from different sectors of the society and media. There are those who staunchly supported Nixon and accounts and opinions of those who were against him.
I believe these quotes by editors and publishers on Amazon.com echo my thought best.
“Perlstein is my favorite kind of historian, one who takes not just the long but also the wide view, looking for lines of influence, unexpected connections and threads.” (David Ulin The Los Angeles Times)
“Outstanding…Full of the tragic, the infuriating, and the darkly funny, Perlstein captures the frantic nature of the period…in this massive and wide-ranging portrait.” (Publishers Weekly [starred review])
