Shadow

Twenty-five years ago, after Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, Gerald Ford promised a return to normalcy. "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over," President Ford declared. But it was not. The Watergate scandal, and the remedies against future abuses of power, would have an enduring impact on presidents and the country. In Shadow, Bob Woodward takes us deep into the administrations of Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton to describe how each discovered …

…In the first place, the public seems genuinely tired of scandal. In addition, the independent prosecutor law has just been allowed to expire without renewal. On the other hand, the heat of media scrutiny, stoked by the 24-hour news cycle and content-hungry Internet reportage, shows no sign of abating. There's no denying that the rules have changed. As the sun sets on the American Empire, we can expect its shadows to lengthen on the ground.