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Title: Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America by Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Annelise Anderson, Geroge P. Shultz, Kiron K. Skinner, Martin Anderson ISBN: 0-7432-0123-X Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 06 February, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.31 (42 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Running for office? Read this book
Comment: Before I begin my review, I must first say that I did not vote for Ronald Reagan. While I agree with his views on foreign policy, I did not support his stands on economic and social issues.
What I liked about this book was Reagan's writing. He was quick, to the point and consistent. You have to admire a politician that rarely waivers from his views, even if you do not agree with them. You might not have agreed with this man, but his views on the Soviet were the same when he took office as they were in his writing. The same with China, Panama, Isreal and economics.
In his writing, you see that this is a more thoughtful man than he is portrayed by others. I am sure he was more capable of having an intelligent conversation than people believed. While I would not have called Reagan a 'policy wonk', he communicated his views and ideas far better than Clinton-a man who acts like he knows he is smart.
I've read other Reagan bios and letters and memoirs of other Presidents-Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Bush and Clinton. I liked the Ambrose series on Nixon best, but this comes real close.
Anyone who is considering running for office should read this book. Reagan showed the way on how to explain complicated ideas in basic terms. All politicians of all views could learn a lot from him.
Rating: 5
Summary: Reagan revisited: the political philosopher inside the man
Comment: I came to this book as a student of political science and an admirer of Ronald Reagan. But a snide admirer in that I held the widespread belief that while a man of courage, conviction and vision, he was "an amiable dunce" who generated his beliefs from some hidden wellspring of unspoken, unexamined character.
This evidence refutes that belief.
I finished this book with a fundamentally altered appreciation of Reagan as perhaps the greatest, and certainly the most effective, political thinker of the second half of the 20th century (we must reserve the first half for Winston).
If you love or hate Reagan, you will accordingly love or hate this book, so I'm not going to review the man but rather, the arguments presented as political philosophy and the style of rhetoric as political communication. Each display a striking command and fine nuance of their subject.
Kudos, first of all, to the editing team. In a unique innovation, they have taken Reagan's hand-written scripts for 5-minute radio addresses delivered between 1975 and 1979 and reproduced them , en toto, with strike-outs, add-ins, and re-edits included in the main body of the draft. Thus we see Reagan constantly re-working his craft: changing a passive to an active voice, clearing out a thicket of prepositions to strengthen and clarify, re-doubling or eliminating emphases, and always, always, writing to be heard. (It is interesting to note that the most re-edited piece here is his sole radio address on abortions - he is clearly struggling with the two legitimate, honestly held claims.)
In his foreword, Reagan's Secretary of State, George Shultz writes:
"And that is the reason why this book is so important. It provides a key to unlocking the mystery of Reagan that has baffled so many for so long. How could a man of supposedly limited knowledge and limited intelligence accomplish so much? How did he get elected and reelected governor of our largest state? How did he get elected and reelected president of the United States? How did he preside over a time of unprecedented prosperity, the winning of the cold war, and the demise of communism worldwide? How?"
"Well, maybe he was a lot smarter than most people thought."
What comes across in each radio address, clearly, repeatedly, is the man's rigorous thinking, connection of facts to results, and his program for how he would effect change. What is only understood across the entire corpus is that he is also promoting a consistent, cohesive political philosophy in the tradition and spirit of the classic liberals.
To take just one example, here is Reagan teaching comparative economics:
"I'm going to talk figures & statistics today which make you wonder how long communist leaders can hide from themselves the fact that our system is infinitely better than theirs.
I'll be right back.
There are 3 so called superpowers based on size & population in the world, two are communist one is free. If you don't mind trying to follow some figures you'll discover just how superior freedom is to the 'worker's paradise' that accepted the idiocy of Karl Marx....
We produce 7 times as many automobiles as Russia & more than 600 times as many as China. Those autos travel on more than 3 mil. miles of paved road in the U.S. and only 1/15 of that in Russia, 200,000 miles & in China 161,000.
Now let's get down to some of the differences in daily living. The average wage in our country is $13,400 that is about 4 ½ times Russia's $3000 and 37 times Chinas $360. Perhaps you think their money goes farther than ours. Well not if you translate purchase into how long you have to work at the average wage to buy something - say a bicycle. An American would only have to work a day plus 2 hrs. The Russian has to work 7 full days and the Chinese worker puts in 67 days."
This is fine political education, and let's not forget, a controversial viewpoint at the time. It is, after all, eight years *before* Dan Rather insisted (in 1987) that, "despite what many Americans think, most Soviets do not yearn for capitalism or Western-style democracy."
There's simply too much to excerpt here, but the book ably covers everything from communist expansion to taxation to regulation to arms treaties to marijuana ("If adults want to take such chances that is their business." !!! Reagan nakedly exposes his libertarian principles throughout, by the way.)
To those who would assert the 80s just happened, this is their refutation. Reagan repeatedly highlights a Carter or Democratic initiative, policy, or platform, explains why it is bad, predicts (or recapitulates) the bad consequences, proposes his alternative and asserts what fruit this future course would bear. As we march through four long years of Ford-Carter with Reagan as our guide, we get increasingly impatient for the clock to hurry up and bring our man into the Oval Office so he can put a halt to this idiocy. It is only with this pre-1981 look into the thinking of the man and the circumstances of the day, that I have understood the impact of his will on the country.
For here is a man who understands words, deeds, and consequences. At a time when the opposition and the newsmen insisted that he not inflame the Soviets, this is a man who went to knock on the door and inflame with the truth. This is the man who stood at Brandenburg Gate and said: "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
And the wall fell.
In his own hand, with his own voice, Ronald Reagan spoke his beliefs, led his country, and changed the world.
Rating: 5
Summary: An invaluable primary source on Reagan
Comment: This is really a great collection to have of primary source material on Ronald Reagan, allowing anyone who would want to do more research on Reagan as a person, political thinker, and politician, to see how the former President thought things out. Even the spelling mistakes and crossouts by Reagan left in the book are invaluable. Though they may hurt the flow of the reading, they are important to the books value as a primary source-everything is left in, and one can even see what Reagan decided he did not want to leave in his writings. Excellent book for scholars interested in Reagan.
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Title: Stories in His Own Hand: The Everyday Wisdom of Ronald Reagan by Ronald Reagan, Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, Martin Anderson ISBN: 0743226550 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: Reagan: A Life in Letters by Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, Martin Anderson, George P. Shultz ISBN: 074321966X Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life by Peter Robinson ISBN: 0060523999 Publisher: Regan Books Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Ronald Reagan: An American Life by Ronald Reagan ISBN: 0743400259 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan by Nancy Reagan ISBN: 0375760512 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 26 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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