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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – The knockdown, drag-out, untold story of the other scandal that rocked Nixon’s White House, and reset the rules for crooked presidents to come–with new reporting that expands on Rachel Maddow’s Peabody Award-nominated podcast
“Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz expand on their riveting podcast to create a work both scholarly and disturbing in its parallels to current events.”–Preet Bharara, New York Times bestselling author of Doing Justice and host of the podcast Stay Tuned with Preet
Is it possible for a sitting vice president to direct a vast criminal enterprise within the halls of the White House? To have one of the most brazen corruption scandals in American history play out while nobody’s paying attention? And for that scandal to be all but forgotten decades later?
The year was 1973, and Spiro T. Agnew, the former governor of Maryland, was Richard Nixon’s second-in-command. Long on firebrand rhetoric and short on political experience, Agnew had carried out a bribery and extortion ring in office for years, when–at the height of Watergate–three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes and launched a mission to take him down before it was too late, before Nixon’s impending downfall elevated Agnew to the presidency. The self-described “counterpuncher” vice president did everything he could to bury their investigation: dismissing it as a “witch hunt,” riling up his partisan base, making the press the enemy, and, with a crumbling circle of loyalists, scheming to obstruct justice in order to survive.
In this blockbuster account, Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz detail the investigation that exposed Agnew’s crimes, the attempts at a cover-up–which involved future president George H. W. Bush–and the backroom bargain that forced Agnew’s resignation but also spared him years in federal prison. Based on the award-winning hit podcast, Bag Man expands and deepens the story of Spiro Agnew’s scandal and its lasting influence on our politics, our media, and our understanding of what it takes to confront a criminal in the White House.
Reviews
“The full sordid story of Spiro Agnew . . . [Maddow and Yarvitz] don’t hold back.” —The New York Times
“A case study in how the democratic ideal of equal justice under the law collides with the squalid realities of America’s political system . . . a brisk and engaging account [that] sheds light on the challenges–legal, moral, political–of treating presidents and vice presidents like every other citizen.” —The Washington Post
” Bag Man delivers a powerful and timeless lesson about America’s enduring principles while demonstrating that the final verdict of history may differ from self-interested contemporary accounts and highlighting how much the rule of law depends upon the character of the people who enforce it.” –Rod J. Rosenstein, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General
” Bag Man is a super-entertaining page-turner about a mostly forgotten–yet hugely important–chapter of American history that played out right in the shadow of Watergate. It’s a deeply wild tale of greed, criminality, and corruption infecting the highest levels of our government. But at its heart, it’s a human story, a reminder that people make up our institutions, and ultimately they have the ability to protect–and to save–our democracy when it really needs their help.” –Ben Stiller
