Nixonland by Rick Perlstein

I am reading an excellent book called Nixonland by the author, Rick Perlstein. This massive tome, something like 750 pages plus ample helpings of endnotes, is easily one of the best descriptions of the mid '60s to early '70s in America that I have come across. The book frames that period of time in the manner of the battle between the radical counterculture (Black Panthers, hippies, student radicals, war protesters and other groups) with the so-called Silent Majority for control of the country. Starting with the Watts Riots in LA in 1965, the book goes into enormous detail about the increasing deterioration in the social order that occured in the US and how Richard Nixon, viewed as a loser by his party based on the 1960 presidential election, the failed 1962 California Gubernatorial election and his rejection by the GOP in the 1964 presidential election, gradually build up his support and used the ongoing turmoil to appear as the candidate for law and order and win the White House in 1968. If you have time on your hands and want to learn more about a turbulent time, I highly recommend Nixonland.