Before the fall
William Safire
Reading Time
at 250 WPM15h 10m
The average reader, reading at a speed of 250 WPM, would take 15h 10m to read Before the fall.
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31
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910
total minutes
Before the fall
Published
1977
Publisher
Ballantine
Pages
910
ISBN-10
0345273605
Description
Synopsis: William Safire was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon from 1968 to 1973. During that time, as a Washington insider, Safire was able to observe the thirty-seventh president in his entirety: as noble and mean-spirited; as good and bad; as a man desirous of greatness. Rarely has there been a White House memoir more intimate or revealing in its exploration of the great events that took place "before the fall" of Watergate. In this anecdotal history, Nixon and his associates come alive, not as caricatures, but as men with high and low purpose: Henry Kissinger, William Rogers, H.R. (Bob) Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Charles Colson, and Arthur Burns struggle not just for power, but for ideals.^ As William Safire says in his Prologue: "In this memoir, which is neither a biography of [Nixon] nor an autobiography of me nor a narrative history of our times, there is an attempt to figure out what was good and bad about him, what he was trying to do and how well he succeeded, how he used and affected some of the people around him, and an effort not to lose sight of all that went right in examining what went wrong." The book is divided into ten sections, in which run three main themes: the President, the Partisan, and the Person. As a president, Safire discusses Nixon and the Vietnam War, foreign policy, economics, and race relations. As a partisan, he discusses Nixon's attempt to form an alignment across party lines, successful in many respects before the president tolerated the excesses that eventually corrupted his administration.^ And as a person, Safire finds that Nixon was a mixture of Woodrow Wilson, Machiavelli, Theodore Roosevelt, and Shakespeare's Cassius--an idealistic conniver evoking the strenuous life while he thinks too much. This paperback edition of a classic primary source for historians includes a new introduction by its author. Studded with direct quotations that put the reader in the room where history was being made, Before the Fall is a realistic, shades-of-gray study of the Nixon years.
Subjects
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pages are in Before the fall?
This edition of Before the fall has approximately 910 pages. Please note, this is an estimate and the exact page count can vary between hardcover, paperback, and e-book versions.
How long does it take to read Before the fall?
For most readers, Before the fall typically takes between 18h 58m and 12h 38m to complete. This is based on the book's length of approximately 227,500 words and common reading speeds.
Here's a detailed breakdown: • Continuous reading at 250 WPM: approximately 15h 10m of focused reading • Casual reading (30 minutes/day): you could finish in roughly 31 days • Estimated word count: 227,500 words
Your individual reading time will vary based on your personal reading pace, the amount of daily reading time, and your familiarity with the subject matter.
What is the word count of Before the fall?
The estimated word count for Before the fall is approximately 227,500 words. This figure is calculated using industry-standard methods that consider genre-specific word density patterns, typical formatting and layout characteristics, and standard words-per-page ratios for published books.
This is an approximation — actual word count may vary based on font size, formatting, edition, and the presence of illustrations or charts.
Who is the author of Before the fall?
Before the fall was written by William Safire.
When was Before the fall published?
The publication date for this specific edition is 1977. The original work may have been published on a different date.