Biographies of individual American presidents appear in bunches: a first flurry of journalistic impressions, a second round about 15 years later when some archival material is available and a third round when the subject can be placed in long-term context. We are in the midst of the second round for Richard Nixon. This volume by a prolific historian belongs to the second round but aspires to the third. The somewhat amorphous theme is Nixon as the effective embodiment of the dreams and fears of the "silent majority."