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Title: Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years by Haynes Johnson ISBN: 0-393-32434-6 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 16 June, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.41 (17 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Leading By Visceral Vicissitude
Comment: Haynes Johnson captures the essential Reagan years. EPA, Iran-Contra, HUD, and the plethora of scandals that rocked this administration, while the Chief gave us movie recitations as fact. Credit is given when due, as the case with Reagan's Zero Option Nuclear treaty negotiations.
What Johnson adduces is a clueless President, who's uninterested in policy, being led around by advisors, who are often corrupt. His belief in Lasser and Stockman's supply side expectations, SDI, and conflicting threat estimates are a few examples.
The Reagan anecdotes, such as the "welfare queen" story is worth the price of the book. I'd rate this book higher than similar exposes on Reagan, such as "Landslide", however, if you're expecting a complete history, you'll be disappointed.
Rating: 4
Summary: Resisting the deification of Ronald Reagan
Comment: While Georgia representative Bob Barr continues to wage a war to name at least one national monument in every state for Ronald Reagan, including the Washington Metro airport stop, a few historians have maintained a more skeptical look at the defining moments of the Reagan presidency.
The Reagan papers were scheduled to be released on June 21 of this year. Barring access to them, this is one of the very few books that attempts to tell a story of a presidency without gushing like a teenage girl with a crush. A great man can withstand critical scrutiny, and Haynes Johnson has given Reagan that chance---and finds Reagan coming up short of the lyrical reviews by Peggy Noonan and others.
If you want some substance for your next discussion over the deficit legacy, Star Wars, and Iran-contra---useful since many of the participants are alive, well, and in power today---you should find this book interesting, regardless of your actual politics.
Rating: 4
Summary: An author shouting "Wake up!" ...
Comment: ... is not always the most judicious or stylish writer. Johnson's book is not the definitive account of America in the Reagan years. It's the impassioned work of a journalist who cannot understand why a second-rate dodderer became one of the best-loved presidents, and why America gave him a pass on a very mixed two terms in office.
I picked this up during Reagan Funeral Week, and it's a useful antidote to the treacle accompanying the man's death. Lou Cannon's bio is, by most accounts, the "definitive" book, but Johnson's is a good, light read.
(Best part so far: interview with Dick Cheney about Reagan's weaknesses; substitute "G.W. Bush" for "Reagan" and it all remains true.)
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Title: WHY AMERICANS HATE POLITICS: THE DEATH OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS by E. J., Jr. Dionne ISBN: 0671778773 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 May, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Paradox of American Democracy: Elites, Special Interests, and the Betrayal of the Public Trust by John B. Judis ISBN: 041593026X Publisher: Brunner-Routledge Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Tell Newt to Shut Up: Prizewinning Washington Post Journalists Reveal How Reality Gagged the Gingrich Revolution by David Maraniss, Michael Weisskopf ISBN: 0684832933 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Power Game: How Washington Works by Hedrick Smith ISBN: 0345410483 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 by James T. Patterson ISBN: 0195117972 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
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