Joe Rodota reading/signing new book 'The Watergate' - March 8th

Time Tested Books

is proud to present

Joseph Rodota

Reading & Discussing

The Watergate:
Inside America's Most Infamous Address

Thursday, March 8th, at 7:00pm

A new book by Sacramento author Joseph Rodota reveals the secrets behind the mid-century masterpiece that became synonymous with scandal. The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address is an absorbing and meticulously researched history with a remarkable cast of characters, from Monica Lewinsky and Senator Bob Dole to Martha Mitchell and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Please join us for a talk by the author and learn more about the Californians who helped saved the Watergate. Books will be available for purchase.

                                                                         Photo by Steven Ainsworth

The Watergate is one of the most infamous structures in America.  As references to Nixon and impeachment flood the news cycle, the nation is reminded anew of the events that rocked this most exclusive Washington, D.C. address.  But the Watergate complex is so much more than the scandal that shares its name.  For over 50 years, this legendary structure has been an integral part of the Beltway’s daily business. Joseph Rodota unveils its full history for the first time in THE WATERGATE: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address.

This absorbing and meticulously-researched history features a remarkable cast of politicians, journalists, socialites and spies.  Rodota introduces us to these movers and shakers--from Monica Lewinsky and Senator Bob Dole to Martha Mitchell and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg--and presents an entirely new way of looking at the Watergate, one that unpacks its full political, social, and cultural influence. Rodota digs into everything from the building’s fraught design and construction process, the ins and outs of the scandal, and the numerous people of intrigue and import that have called the Watergate their home base. The book is full of Watergate facts and stories that have never before been revealed, including:

*The conflicts over the innovative design for the Watergate -- and why it almost wasn’t built; 

*The role of the Vatican in building the Watergate, and how a scandal in Rome affected the Watergate’s fortunes;

*How the Watergate almost escaped being the site of the 1972 break-in;

*How a Hungarian-born financier and a French chef sought to rescue the Watergate’s reputation; and

*A surprising link between the coal miners of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain and President Ronald Reagan that involves the Watergate.

THE WATERGATE offers an insider’s history of our nation’s capital, through the lens of one of its most famous and consequential buildings.

Joseph Rodota is a writer and consultant who divides his time between California and Washington, DC. He is the author of CHESSMAN, a play about the final days of Caryl Chessman, the “Red Light Bandit,” as seen through the eyes of Governor Pat Brown and his family. Rodota has worked at the highest levels of federal, state, and local politics for more than 30 years. He served as a writer and communications manager in the Reagan White House and as a top campaign and government aide to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. In October 2008, as part of a team of bipartisan political consultants who managed the campaign against Proposition 8, Rodota ran the rapid-response “war room.” He has written columns under his own byline for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post and other publications. He is a graduate in history, with honors and distinction, from Stanford University. He is a member of the board of directors of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation in Santa Monica, California, and a former trustee of the Crocker Museum of Art in Sacramento, California.

This event is FREE and everyone is invited.