Crazy rhythm

by Leonard Garment

Crazy Rhythm is a smart, swinging memoir that answers the question "How did a liberal Jewish jazz musician from Brooklyn become one of President Richard Nixon's most trusted advisers and one of Washington's most influential lawyers?". Leonard Garment was probably the hippest man ever to serve in the White House - a jazz musician with an affinity for artists, African-Americans, Jews, American Indians, and the "rabble-rousers" of post-1960s American politics, a man as comfortable with Dick Gregory as he was with Dick Nixon. Garment presents a rare view of Nixon, showing us the man as he ascended to the presidency - brilliant, fascinating, and complex. Garment describes his advocacy on behalf of Israel at the United Nations, his efforts to expand government support for the arts, his crisis management of American Indian protests, and his ideological wrestling matches with Pat Buchanan. He also writes poignantly of his tumultuous first marriage to Grace Albert, a talented television writer