Reviews for Reagan
by Max Boot
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
The historian and foreign-policy analyst presents an unabashed revisionist history of the 40th president of the U.S. Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of The Road Not Taken and Invisible Armies, sets out to present Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) in full: the enigmatic man of contradictions who had a singular talent for connecting with millions of constituents while being a conflict-avoiding introvert little known to his own family as well as associates who famously eluded and “flummoxed” official biographer Edmund Morris, whose Dutch was “an experimental, quasi-fictional book that was widely criticized.” The amount of research Boot conducted is immense, and his portrait of Reagan is enhanced not only by the passage of time since Reagan's administrations, but by the author’s 100+ forthright interviews and the availability of more archival materials. Boot brings to light the familial, social, and religious influences that shaped Reagan's Midwestern childhood; the skills he honed as a sportscaster and actor, which reinforced the all-American persona that he would display on the world stage; and his intriguing work as an FBI informant during the Hollywood blacklist era. The author also produces a no-holds-barred account of Reagan's terms as California governor and U.S. president. Boot's account of the life and times of Reagan is, as promised, no hagiography. Occasionally, however, the author overreaches in his attempts to demonstrate his independence with odd quips and obvious points that diminish the quality of the text. Yet Boot goes further than any other biography—with the exception of H.W. Brands’ 2015 portrait—in completing the story of an essentially unknowable individual who was "hiding in plain sight” yet whose ideological metamorphosis was fundamental to understanding the political and social transformations of the U.S. in the second half of the 20th century. A prodigiously researched, satisfying presidential bio. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Publishers Weekly
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Ronald Reagan embodied an ideologically unmoored but effective blend of hard-line conservatism and pragmatism, according to this sprawling biography. Washington Post columnist Boot (The Road Not Taken) traces Reagan’s journey from movie star and New Deal liberal to staunch right-winger who extolled capitalism, anathematized big government, and clothed ugly prejudices—he privately called Africans “monkeys”—in a sunny, charismatic persona. But his extremism, Boot notes, coexisted with practical flexibility; for example, when his signature tax cuts ballooned government budget deficits, he backtracked and accepted new taxes, and he pursued negotiations with the Soviet Union even as he was calling it “an evil empire.” Boot strongly criticizes Reagan’s moral failings, including his habitual resort to racist dog whistles, the inequity of his economic policies, and his support for murderous right-wing dictatorships in Latin America. But he’s also alive to Reagan’s political strengths, which included cutting deals (he oversaw groundbreaking nuclear arms reduction treaties with the Soviets) and communicating an appealing, if simplistic, political vision. Boot’s effort to paint Reagan as basically a moderate at heart—or at least in practice, by way of balancing his excesses against his moments of judiciousness—leaves the man himself somewhat inscrutable, casting him instead as an avatar of American democracy’s complicated mix of earnest dogma and muddled consensus. It makes for an unusually middle-of-the-road and not very revealing portrait. (Sept.)
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Compared to the partisan brawling of today’s national and local American politics, Ronald Reagan’s presidency looks idyllic. Using newly released documents and the perspective of decades, Boot (The Road Not Taken, 2019) portrays Reagan as a principled conservative, but also a pragmatist who thoughtfully compromised to attain achievable results. Boot surveys Reagan’s Illinois upbringing, noting that his ambition was evident from a young age—a sports enthusiast as well as a fan of dramatic acting, Reagan entered radio broadcasting before decamping to southern California to pursue an acting career. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, he fought supposed communists in the union; celebrated by conservatives as anti-tax, he nevertheless increased government debt both as California governor and U.S. president. He also witnessed the collapse of the U.S.’ old nemesis, the Soviet Union. Reagan often reduced controversies into battles between good and evil. His ability to project an attractive telegenic persona marshalled public support and acclaim. He defended the rights of minorities in the film industry and in military service, but in campaigns he signaled to segregationists that they were welcome in his party. Boot’s clear-headed biography brims with insightful anecdotes and clears away myth to give a more solid portrait of a remarkable politician.
