The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order
1964-1980
Author's NoteONE OF MY TEACHERS in graduate school insisted that “a history must serve its readers with explanations that suit the horizons of their curiosity and with writing that entertains and stirs them.” Heeding this admonition led me to the unusual style of this book, which requires an explanation.
This book is one part biography, one part narrative chronicle, and one part political analysis—an amalgam that does not easily fit into a recognized nonfiction genre. It attempts to explain how and, more importantly, why Ronald Reagan became president in 1980. A capacious narrative seemed the best style to convey this broad theme. Winston Churchill noted the necessity of capturing the wider context of a person in his four-volume account of his ancestor, the Duke of Marlborough: “In a portrait or impression the human figure is best shown by its true relation to the objects and scenes against which it is thrown, and by which it is defined.”
The decade-and-a-half preceding Reagan’s ascent to the White House wa ...
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