From the Publisher

By Louis A. Weil III

Love him or hate him, Richard Nixon is hard to ignore. Since his resignation in 1974, Nixon has re-emerged as an outspoken thinker on American politics and a respected analyst of foreign policy. His forthcoming book, In the Arena, excerpted this week in TIME, is his most emotionally fired memoir to date and his most exculpatory. Beginning with his flight from the White House, he recounts his moments of despair and his struggle to redeem himself.

Nixon, who describes as one of his strengths the "iron butt" necessary for long hours of scholarship, had done all his homework when he met last week for two interviews in his office in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., with TIME chief of correspondents John F. Stacks and editor at large Strobe Talbott. "What is striking is that he regards these interviews as serious works and prepares for them," says Talbott. "He works out his talking points in a detailed fashion. He has a definite agenda."

Nixon prefers to steer the conversation toward foreign, rather than domestic, policy, and his office reflects his passion for international affairs. His work space is decorated with photographs from his travels abroad and gifts bestowed by world leaders on him and his family after he left office. Since then, Stacks has interviewed Nixon two times, Talbott four. With each encounter, they have discovered a man in close touch with the political scene. "He sees the world as a kind of interlocking device," says Stacks. "He is fully back on his game." At 77, Nixon is also in good health and, says Talbott, "looking remarkably fit."

Why provide a platform for an ex-President who is plainly on a quest for historical redemption? "That Nixon chooses to stay in the arena makes him an important historical figure," says Stacks. "He brings experience and expertise to bear on the public discussion." Nixon also provides a long-range view on a world that is changing at a startling pace. "The thing that's endlessly intriguing about Nixon is that he dominates and personifies American politics for three decades, both its best and its worst parts," says Stacks. "His own progression mirrors the country's, from a virulent anti-Communist to being the author of detente to now being an observer of Gorbachev's reforms."