For my senior high school prom, the committee decided that the dance would be held at The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Placentia, California (near the neighborhood in which I grew up). It was an odd request; but most of us were too enthralled with our dresses and our dates to notice the Nixon paraphernalia in the background. In fact, despite cyclic U.S. History classes throughout my life, my only memorable recollection of the “scandal that brought down an American President” was from the movie, “Forrest Gump.”

There is an obvious generation gap when it comes to knowing what the Watergate scandal is about. Many know from books and more so movies of the infamous hotel, the robbery, the anonymous source—Deep Throat, the “smoking gun” tape and at least one of the reporters (usually Bob Woodward) who investigated and wrote about the scandal for The Washington Post. But few persons of my generation know of the other details, like the exact reasons why Nixon resigned or know of the true players involved with bringing about the president’s resignation.

Award-winning author and American University professor, Alicia C. Shepard, delves into these details in her new book, “Woodward and Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate,” which debunks one of the major myths of the scandal: how two unknown reporters from The Washington Post brought down an American President. Shepard intricately describes the personal and professional lives of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein during and post Watergate. Particularly fascinating is the diverging paths the two journalists take after achieving journalism stardom: from Woodward’s continuous upward success as a journalist and writer in today’s political and journalism spheres, compared to Bernstein’s more professionally subdued path, which was overshadowed by his much public divorce with writer, Nora Ephron, and his struggle to write a long-awaited memoir about his Communist parents.

The book is a great read for individuals who think they know everything about Watergate, or for those who know nothing at all. Shepard is able to capture the struggles and personal triumphs of Woodward and Bernstein, giving readers an in-depth look of the historically corrupt and changing times of United States politics and journalism.

--Karin J.