Product Description

Hailed by the New Yorker as "a superlative study of a president and his presidency," Lou Cannon's President Reagan remains the definitive account of our most significant presidency in the last fifty years. Ronald Wilson Reagan, the first actor to be elected president, turned in the performance of a lifetime. But that performance concealed the complexities of the man, baffling most who came in contact with him. Who was the man behind the makeup? Only Lou Cannon, who covered Reagan through his political career, can tell us. The keenest Reagan-watcher of them all, he has been the only author to reveal the nature of a man both shrewd and oblivious. Based on hundreds of interviews with the president, the First Lady, and hundreds of the administration's major figures, President Reagan takes us behind the scenes of the Oval Office. Cannon leads us through all of Reagan's roles, from the affable cowboy to the self-styled family man; from the politician who denounced big government to the president who created the largest peace-time deficit; from the statesman who reviled the Soviet government to the Great Communicator who helped end the cold war. "President Reagan is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the star of politics in the 1980s." (Time)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86009 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04
• Released on: 2000-04-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 912 pages

Amazon.com Review
This is possibly the single best book available on the Reagan presidency. Lou Cannon began reporting on Ronald Reagan as a journalist when Reagan first ran for governor of California in 1966, and then covered him again in Washington after his 1980 presidential election. In short, there is probably no man or woman who has spent more years writing about the Gipper than Cannon. The result is a magisterial account of Reagan's two terms in the White House. Cannon is broadly sympathetic to his subject, but also coolly detached. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime pulled off the remarkable feat of winning praise from both Reagan's admirers and detractors when it was first published in 1991. This reissued edition, which includes a new preface describing Reagan's postpresidential descent into the abyss of Alzheimer's disease, must now be considered the standard text on the subject--especially in light of the controversy surrounding the book that aspired to Cannon's mantle, Edmund Morris's quasi biography Dutch.

Cannon's book is full of wise analysis and sound observation. He explains Reagan's success convincingly: "Optimism was not a trivial or peripheral quality. It was the essential ingredient of an approach to life.... [Reagan] had a knack of converting others to his optimism, almost as if he drew upon some private reservoir of self-esteem. People who listened to Reagan tended to feel good about him and better about themselves." Though the book bursts with detail, it's never so cumbersome that it bogs down Cannon's narrative. And these pages give only cursory attention to Reagan's life before the White House; this is more a biography of President Reagan than of Ronald Reagan. Conservatives who are defensive about Reagan's legacy may bristle at certain points; Cannon's portrait is not always a flattering one. Yet it's a compelling biography of a compelling man's most important years. It's possible to imagine that a fuller biography of Reagan will be written some day. Right now, however, this is the best there is--and it's very, very good. --John J. Miller

From Library Journal
No journalist enjoys a closer working relationship with Ronald Reagan, his friends, and advisors than Cannon, who has covered the Reagan beat for a quarter of a century. Combining scores of interviews, including three with Reagan, with authoritative journalism, Cannon has written what may be the best contemporary political history of the Reagan years. Unlike most modern presidents whose frame of reference is analytical and political, Cannon reveals how Reagan was shaped by his acting career. Far from being a Hollywood refugee, Reagan is credited with reviving national confidence and not being the demagogue that his opponents perceived him to be. While Reagan succeeded at establishing the national agenda, numerous ethical scandals, the savings and loan debacle, and the unraveling of foreign policy proved the presidency to be beyond Reagan's abilities. Transcending the many self-serving kick-and-tell potboilers, Cannon's absorbing, informative account will be the basis for all future studies. Highly recommended for most public and academic libraries.
- Karl Helicher, Upper Marion Township Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover
Lou Cannon has been called "a reporter's reporter" by no less than George Will, who described Cannon's earlier book on Reagan's ascent as "the best guide we have to how Ronald Reagan became who he is and what he is."

Cannon, Bob Woodward has said, "is a great reporter." He "knows more about California, politics, the White House, the presidency and Ronald Reagan than just about anyone."

Customer Reviews

Solid and unbiased
The first thing to say is that this book is not a biography. Almost nothing of Reagan's life prior to 1980 is discussed, and the assassination attempt and the cancer surgery are barely mentioned. This is, instead, an account of the Reagan presidency: how the decisions were made and how policy was executed. Reagan is a difficult man to write a balanced book about, but Cannon has succeeded. He examines Reagan's style, his strengths and weaknesses, his successes and failures, without assuming that Reagan was either a hero or a scoundrel. Cannon's explanations are invariably thoughtful, intelligent, and well researched. My only criticism is that the book seems to focus excessively heavily on just a couple of cases: namely the bombing of the Marines in Lebanon and the Iran-contra affair. Many equally important events get much less attention. Despite that, the book is probably the best account of the Reagan presidency which we have, and I would have given it 4 1/2 stars if Amazon allowed that.

Forget Morris...this is the way a Reagan Biography should be
After being severely disappointed by the work Morris spent a decade working on--I re-read this book. It is very well written, and unbiased account of the Reagan Presidency and Reagan the man. Lou Cannon didn't need to insert himself into the story to make this book work. History will point to this as the definitive Reagan Presidency biography and Morris may be relegated the ash-heap of poor authorship. As a journalist who covered Reagan as governor of California and as President, Cannon has some interesting insights on a complex Presidency.

THE book on the Reagan Presidency
Like Clinton and GW Bush, Reagan will be argued over for decades to come. Did he win the Cold War? Did he bust the budgets sending us into mountains of debt? Did he bring about the great economic times of the 1980s? Did he just put a smile over the real problems of regular Americans? And what about Iran-Contra? Your answers depend on your political ideology. Both conservatives and liberals will stretch, bend, and lie to make Reagan's achievements or dissapointments match up with their ideological bent. These wing-nuts will ignore tons of facts that argue against their position. This will also be the case for Clinton and GW Bush. So it is.

Cannon, however, has written the single greatest book on the Reagan Presidency. Unlike the liberals who took pot-shots shortly after Reagan left office, or the conservatives who are trying to rewrite the past with overly glowing accounts, Cannon wrote a book whose format should be followed for every president after they leave office: thoroughness and fairness. Cannon, who covered the Reagan White House for the Washington Post, was so much more than just a journalist when he wrote "Role of a Lifetime." He was part political scientist, part psychobiographer, a small part memoirist, and, indeed, he still didn't forget the writing skills of a well-trained journalist.

If you're a hardcore conservative or liberal, you will not love this book. It doesn't kiss Reagan's ass, nor does it only tear him apart. The man did some good and some bad in the White House. Cannon does as good a job as possible in being fair about it.