A Visit to Haldeman and Other States of Mind

In a literary tour de force, Charles L. Mee Jr. interweaves images and impressions from his life with political reflections inspired by a meeting with former Nixon aide H. R. Haldeman. The meeting—to discuss the possibility of collaborating with Haldeman on a book about his White House experience—becomes the vehicle for Mee’s probing of his own political perceptions.

Here, exposed to the scrutiny of an unsparing journalistic eye, are the deep feelings of loss and failure that the Nixon debac...