A Book about Belief
436 pages | © 2019
Paper List Price $26.00 | ISBN: 9780226239699 | 2012
“It’s not surprising . . . that the 37th U.S. president most often figures in cinema not as a character but as a touchstone of an era of frustration and corruption in which the American Dream seemed to be grinding to a halt. . . . Thankfully, Feeney doesn’t focus narrowly on Nixon in the movies, so he never gets bogged down explaining the symbolism obvious in some of these films. Instead, Feeney construes his subject far more broadly— hence, Nixon at the movies. Feeney uses many films in which Nixon isn’t referenced at all, from Double Indemnity to The Conversation, as lenses for interpreting the president and his times. And most originally, he ponders Nixon’s infatuation with the silver screen, revealing the loner president to be a compulsive moviegoer who watched more than 500 pictures while in office.” — Slate