... invaluable in understanding what happened then and, sadly, raises questions of whether we, as a nation, learned anything at all from that experience ... Wine-Banks puts readers inside the prosecutors’ war room, picking up where congressional committees left off. She offers insights into prosecutorial decisions and little known, or previously unknown, stories that offer a new appreciation for hard-working lawyers who endured the thankless task of taking on the most powerful man in the world ... Although Wine-Banks also finds time to weigh in on the current state of political affairs, and their parallels to the Nixon era, the book’s real value lies in lessons learned, and perhaps some not learned, from the past. It’s one thing to watch an impeachment proceeding play out on television. It’s another to be behind closed doors where strategies are devised and decisions made. The Watergate Girl puts the reader in that room. For the history or politics junkie, there is no better place to be.
... contributes a new perspective and details to an already massive literature, but no earth-shattering revelations ... The time lag does afford some advantages. Riding the crest of the #MeToo movement, Wine-Banks describes the mostly workaday sexism she encountered on the job. Reflecting the contemporary penchant for soul-baring, she depicts her sexually unsatisfying and psychologically abusive marriage, a clandestine love affair, and a happy second marriage to her high school beau ... raises questions, particularly about her disastrous first marriage, which it never fully answers. But the book’s fast-moving narrative and crisp prose should hook readers.
In this sprightly and engrossing memoir of her time in those fraught, gender-challenged trenches, Wine-Banks reveals tantalizing behind-the-scenes details that bring that pivotal time in the nation’s history back to life and relevancy ... A captivating and candid look back on a storied career.
