Choice
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

This masterful volume of American political history, following Perlstein's earlier Before the Storm (CH, Nov'01, 39-1793) and Nixonland (CH, Dec'08, 46-2289), details the shift in Republican politics--and American culture--from Nixon's paranoia to Reagan's optimism. Beginning with the events leading to Nixon's resignation and culminating with the divided 1976 GOP convention, the book outlines the period's national crisis of confidence, the deepening divide between conservatives and progressives, and the uncanny ability of then-California Governor Reagan to overcome both. The book is not a biography of Reagan, although he is the central figure, and readers seeking a detailed explanation of contemporary events, such as Watergate, should look elsewhere. What Perlstein provides instead is a rich cultural and political history of a fascinating moment in American politics, filled with intricate details of elite interactions and public concerns (letters to the editor are a favored source of citizen voices). Finally, Luddite scholars beware: though the volume boasts an extensive index, source notes are available only online. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. --Richard J. Meagher, Randolph-Macon College

Publishers Weekly
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Perlstein (Nixonland) snuffs out any nostalgic glow in this massive and wide-ranging portrait of 1973 to 1976, from Watergate to Ronald Reagan's challenge to Gerald Ford for the Republican presidential nomination. Full of the tragic, the infuriating, and the darkly funny, Perlstein captures the frantic nature of the period: Hank Aaron enduring racist slurs and death threats as he broke Babe Ruth's home run record; the kidnapping of Patty Hearst; the fall of Saigon; and Chevy Chase mocking the hapless Gerald Ford on Saturday Night Live. This was an America that seemed dominated by "suspicious circles"-the skeptics and cynics that led much of America's cultural and political discourse in the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate. But Perlstein pulls together the threads that hinted at a conservatism in flux and ready for revolution, from violent battles over busing in Boston to anti-Equal Rights Amendment activism, but most of all, Ronald Reagan: his unwavering optimism in America, his carefully constructed image, and his growing appeal to mainstream America. As Perlstein notes in this outstanding work, "America had not yet become Reagan's America," but these were pivotal years that laid the groundwork for Reagan's presidential triumph in 1980. Agent: Tina Bennett, William Morris Endeavor. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

How Ronald Reagan lost the presidency and won the heart of America.Building on his first two booksBefore the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (2001) and Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (2008)Perlstein once again delivers a terrific hybrid biography of a Republican leader and the culture he shaped. Where Perlstein's Nixon was the cynic in chief who exploited resentment and frustration to get elected, his Reagan is the star of his own pseudo-reality show, who "framed even the most traumatic events in his lifeeven his father's funeralas always working out gloriously in the end, evidence that the universe was just." Although the book only goes up to Reagan's loss of the 1976 Republican nomination to President Gerald Ford, the scope of the work never feels limited. Perlstein examines the skeletons in the Reagan, Ford and Carter closets, finds remarkable overlooked details and perfectly captures the dead-heat drama of the Republican convention. Just as deftly, he taps into the consciousness of bicentennial America. He sees this world with fresh eyes; for Perlstein, 1970s America wasn't the "Me Decade"a phrase he never usesso much as the Fear Decade, when a paranoid country was beside itself with worry over CIA revelations, killer bees, abortion, losing the Panama Canal and the grim possibility that you could lose your children (whether Linda Blair or Patty Hearst) to the dark side. Always at the center of the narrative is Reagan, the self-appointed hero who assured a jittery populace that Vietnam and Watergate were just bad dreams. He was America's cheerleader, the slick beast slouching toward Washington, waiting to be born again. A compelling, astute chronicle of the politics and culture of late-20th-century America. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal
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In the 1970s, after Watergate, after the horrors of the Vietnam War, after revelations of CIA malfeasance, America seemed humbly ready to readjust its sights. Then along came Ronald Reagan, and against all odds flag waving was back in fashion. What happened? Here's insight from Perlstein, author of the New York Times best-selling Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, who ultimately asks us to reconsider what it means to be American. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The third installment in a series of four books focusing on the American political and social climate of the 1970s, Perlstein (Nixonland) opens this volume with the end of the Vietnam War and finishes with Ronald Reagan's failed attempt to gain the Republican nomination in 1976. Perlstein demonstrates how a nervous nation disenchanted with politicians (owing to Watergate, Vietnam, and tensions with "Red China") and in throes of social change was becoming primed for a leader like Reagan and a new, modern conservatism. At times, it seems the author is stretching for a connection between certain events and Reagan's rise to power, and, overall, Perlstein paints a convincing picture. Occasionally, long descriptions of seemingly out-of-place topics are a bit jarring but they aren't bothersome enough to detract from the narrative. Particularly engaging are the author's recounts of Reagan's deft political moves, charm, and willingness to find faults in a nation unwilling to look for them. This is certainly one of the most thorough political investigations of this time frame and an important read for scholars of this period. VERDICT Recommended for readers of political science, American history, presidential history, those interested in Watergate, and those concerned with the beginnings of the oil crisis.-Benjamin Brudner, Curry Coll. Lib., Milton, MA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* After the swamping of the Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964, it seemed unlikely that 16 years later another stridently conservative candidate, Ronald Reagan, would be elected in a landslide. After all, Nixon had run and governed as a centrist who accepted most New Deal and Great Society programs. Perlstein is an award-winning author who has written extensively on politics in the 1960s and 1970s. Here, he recounts the events between the slow decay of the Nixon administration in 1973 as Watergate unfolded, up to Reagan's surprisingly close, if failed, effort to unseat the Republican incumbent, Gerald Ford, in 1976. That failure, of course, proved, in retrospect, that Reagan could succeed as a national candidate. This is an ambitious, wide-ranging, and superbly written account filled with wonderful insights into key players, from the prominent to the unjustifiably obscure. On a deeper level, Perlstein views the rise of Reagan, with his celebration of America's special destiny and moral superiority, as a rejection of a more honest and practical view of our role in the world after the traumas of Vietnam and Watergate. This is a masterful interpretation of years critical to the formation of our current political culture.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2010 Booklist