Seven years ago, Perlstein's foray into right-wing idealism, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, looked into the 1964 presidential election. Nixonland is the sequel, covering the decade from Goldwater's defeat until the impeachment of the apparent hero of the book.

There are a number of problems with Perlstein's approach. First, he goes back to the early 1960s – reprising the Johnson vs Goldwater election and thus covering old ground. Second, he deluges the reader in narrative: detailing the minutiae of political events – from Alabama to West Virginia, Arizona to Wisconsin – in a dizzying summary of proceedings. As a result, it is, inevitably, sometimes difficult to follow the issues. However, Perlstein's approach will bring back vivid and visceral memories for those who lived through the period – of an era of violence in America, where protest became riot, nonviolent demonstration turned into assassination and the comparatively peaceful and conforming 1950s became a distant memory.

The author develops an interesting and complex argument for the rise of conservatism, brought into the open by racial disharmony, socialist-style legislation and a distrust of the administration's conduct of an undeclared war. Perlstein weaves a tapestry around the arguments in favour of the civil rights movement and supportive legislation, against the concerns that arose in white communities about the open housing laws. He details the debate in numerous states, North and South, brought on by Great Society legislation and its expense – in particular, how its socialist nature played into the hands of conservatives. The Vietnam War comes and goes with Johnson's failure to win the political arguments, leading to his refusal to run in 1968.

Throughout there is Richard Nixon, the so-called hero of the book. Perlstein relates Nixon's defeat and fall in 1960 and 1962 and the reasons for his rise and victory in 1967 and 1968. He provides Nixon with a singleness of purpose, coupled with a sense of humour, courtesy of staff joke writers. However, in the background, the arch-conservative of the Republicans, Ronald Reagan, is waiting. Nixon might have crafted a new “silent” majority but Reagan will be the ultimate beneficiary.

The book has structural problems. Perlstein has a habit of beginning and ending a chapter with one topic whilst allotting another to the middle. His style is journalistic. Often he will write one sentence as a paragraph. Occasionally, he lapses into awkward English, requiring the reader to go over a sentence three or four times to discern the meaning. The book has endnotes but there are no accompanying numbers in the body of the text. For a scholar this will be particularly annoying. Sometimes facts are omitted, such as the 1964 speech in Los Angeles to Goldwater conservatives, which put Reagan on the political map. Finally, the book is very long, perhaps far too long.

However, the foregoing is a reasonable price to pay for a book reflecting ten dramatic and often rich and sad years of American history. The players, major and minor, are often brought to life as a product of extremely thoughtful and careful research.