From master storyteller and New York Times bestselling historian H. W. Brands comes the definitive biography of a visionary and transformative president.
H. W. BRANDS is Distinguished Professor and Melbern G. Glasscock Chair of American History at Texas A&M University. He is the author of many books, among them THE FIRST AMERICAN- THE LIFE & TIMES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and T.R.- THE LAST ROMANTIC, a critically acclaimed biography of Theodore Roosevelt. He lives in Austin, Texas.
"H.W. Brands' new biography tells the [Reagan] story as well as you
could ask for in a single volume. A lucid and witty writer, Mr.
Brands lays out the facts in short chapters that bounce along like
one of the 'bare-fisted walloping action' films that Reagan once
starred in. He has a talent for letting his sources speak for
themselves ... Illuminating. Mr. Brands recounts Reagan's triumphs
and the scandals even-handedly."
--The Economist "Reagan is an engaging study of a man who Brands
says defeated Soviet communism and achieved a halfway economic
revolution. Drawing on Reagan's diary, speeches, statements,
letters and memoirs, and on interviews with the president's aides,
Brands tells a briskly paced story ... Reagan's legacy continues to
fuel the ideas and frame the choices facing his would-be
successors, and this astute biography is further evidence that the
40th president continues to cast a long shadow over a still largely
conservative political order."
--Washington Post "Brands is the rare academic historian who can
write like a best-selling novelist. Through meticulous research, he
recreates decades-old dialogue and puts the reader inside the Oval
Office, the Cabinet Room and the house in Reykjavík, Iceland where
Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev debated the fate of the
world and laid the groundwork for the end of the Cold War."
--USA Today "Superb ... it is hard to imagine a biography of Ronald
Reagan that could be more thorough, evenhanded and insightful."
--Dallas Morning News "A lively and lucid narrative of the life of
America's 40th president ... Brands is surely right that Reagan was
the most persuasive political communicator since Roosevelt."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"Brands' judicious biography of Ronald Reagan is as much about the
art of governing as about the man himself ... Reagan emerges as a
great but terribly flawed president who managed to reorient
government priorities after the exhaustion of liberal
administrations and ideas, but one who also burdened the country
with enormous debts that his successors had to pay down."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Brands' work draws richly from Reagan's presidential diaries and
other recently released sources that earlier biographers couldn't
tap ... His history of the important meetings with Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev is detailed and balanced, with the views of both
sides given equal weight. These chapters are Brands' best writing,
reinforcing the significance of those arms-reduction efforts and
both men's insistence on ending the threat of nuclear weapons."
--Philadelphia Inquirer "Brands' book stands out in the canon of
works on Reagan ... With an expert's talent for synthesizing
earlier works, access to previously unavailable sources and new
interviews, Brands creates a riveting narrative. His prose flows as
smoothly as his subject's speeches, and his insights provide a
fresh look at a transformative president that celebrates his
accomplishments but never ignores his blunders. A brilliant example
of the biographer's craft, Reagan deftly and boldly provides a
balanced portrait of a man whose personality remains elusive but
whose legacy continues to resonate."
--Richmond Times-Dispatch "Readers will be greatly attracted to
Brands' skills as a narrative historian ... [he] delivers high
drama in treating Reagan's handling of diplomatic affairs, tensions
with the press corps and squabbles with Congress. Few American
historians and biographers can compete with Brands as a powerful
historical storyteller. Make no mistake, this is a first-rate
presidential biography ... The definitive biography of Reagan."
--The Oregonian "Brands is an immensely talented writer ...
[Reagan] is a pleasurable read."
--The Daily Beast
"A keenly researched book, filled with fascinating stories about a
young man who escaped Illinois and an alcoholic father to pursue a
dream of fame in Hollywood, eventually playing the role of his life
as the leader of the free world."
--Tampa Bay Times
"Monumental life of the president whom some worship and some
despise--with Brands providing plenty of justification for both
reactions ... An exemplary work of history."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "A superb biographer writing at
the top of his game has found the perfect subject for his narrative
skills and profound understanding of the American presidency. Over
the years H. W. Brands has produced an extraordinary body of
historical and biographical works. This is his masterpiece."
--Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Bully
Pulpit "With characteristic skill and insight, H. W. Brands has
painted a compelling portrait of a ubiquitous yet
still-misunderstood American. From the Midwest to Hollywood to the
pinnacle of power, Reagan was at once enigmatic and effective. Read
this great new book to see why."
--Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thomas
Jefferson
"A superb American historian has brought us a fascinating,
judicious, original, and concise biography of one of the most
important presidents in American history. It is impossible to
understand the late twentieth century without understanding Ronald
Reagan, and H. W. Brands here addresses an impressive range of the
key mysteries of the fortieth president's epoch and life."
--Michael Beschloss, author of Presidential Courage
"Ronald Reagan understood what was best about America, and expected
the best for it--which is why he led it so successfully. In Reagan,
H. W. Brands expresses, with deep, deft, strokes, what will become
the accepted view of a great man."
--Richard Brookhiser, author of Founders' Son: A Life of Abraham
Lincoln "No one loved a good story better than Ronald Reagan. His
own story--synonymous with the American Century and reflected in
his political evolution from New Deal Democrat to Washington-phobic
conservative--has never been told better. Studded with fresh
insights, empathetic and yet constructively critical, it may well
be H. W. Brands's finest book. Certainly it confirms Reagan's place
as the conservative FDR, a transforming leader whose influence on
his country's politics and governance is arguably greater than the
day he left the White House."
--Richard Norton Smith, author of On His Own Terms: A Life of
Nelson Rockefeller "National treasure H. W. Brands, who gave us the
definitive single-volume biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt,
completes his biographical tour d'horizon of twentieth-century
politics with this superb life of Ronald Reagan. In doing so,
Brands tracks the paths we wandered through the depression and the
Second World War, the battle against communism, and the
conservative revolution. How did we get to today's angry, polarized
nation? Read Brands's life of Reagan, and find out."
--John A. Farrell, author of Clarence Darrow and Tip O'Neill and
the Democratic Century
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