This is not so much the story of the Watergate mess, as the story of the story of the Watergate mess. It is a third person account of the adventures of the Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who won a Pulitzer prize for their investigation and reportage which broke the scandal wide open, as they wade through the facts and rumors of what proved to be the most explosive corruption crisis of 20th century American politics, bringing down a Presidency, and sending many of of Nixon's closest advisers and officials off to jail. Despite having been fascinated by the imbroglio as a second grader ('the President lied?'), I never understood the entire story and what Watergate was really all about until reading this book. This is a highly recommended piece of American History. Moreso, as Woodward and Bernstein discover that the President's immediate retinue and the President himself had knowledge of, and even condoned or ordered, the various crimes and misdemeanors, the way the reporters express their personal shock and disappointment toward those with whom we entrust our leadership will make you realize just how jaded and cynical we have become in the good ol' US of A in the last four decades.