All the President's Men is compiled from the contemporaneous reporting of two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, but it reads like a thriller. They first stumbled onto the magnitude of the story immediately after the Watergate burglary, when a CIA operative was one of the burglars. What the burglars were doing, for whom and why is now common knowledge. Knowing the outcome of the story does nothing to lessen its urgency. This reporting was groundbreaking, following on the heels of the release of the Pentagon Papers. It reestablished the importance of the fourth estate in our government, that when our elected officials fail to act in our interest, we may still have truth seekers helping to inform the public. I read this book in a day and recommend it to everyone.
The two Washington Post reporters present the inside story of their inquiry into the persons involved in the Watergate scandal that resulted in the resignation of President Nixon.