Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader

Not really a review of the book as I have not had a chance to read it yet.Just got the book and found this really funny.The book has a sticker on the front proclaiming it is an autographed edition. Looking inside I see a "signature", but it is not the authors.Not sure why someone would go through the sham of doing something like this in modern times, but this is just pathetic.Doubt it was the vendor that I purchased through Amazon since they did not advertise it as such. Just a curiosity at this point.

Souza does an excellent job talking about the political story and legacy of Ronald Reagan. He covers every part of the story and challenges all those who brought up charges against him. He talks a lot about Reagan's personality which helped the story a lot. His basic premise was not that Reagan was a hard core conservative that wanted his party to win, but rather a patriotic American who believed in the American people. He talks about Reagan's relationship with Democrats and foreign leaders very well. The book does not have a "I told you so" feel to it either if you are liberal and interested in learning more, but rather that the old ways of the 1970s didn't work anymore and new leadership was needed. He did a great job talking about the economic crisis and other problems that are prevalent in arguments now (the book was written in 1997 before many of these came to light). For example he speaks of income inequality and economic volatility. He does not defend Reagan however, but takes the offensive for him. He tries to think like Reagan and is fairly close, but as he says no one really knew who Reagan really was. Great book!

D'Souza's main thesis of this interesting biography is that Reagan is too easily being dismissed by liberals and conservatives. D'Souza, therefore, mainly focuses on Reagan's most important and controversial decisions, such as the development of a defense system against Soviet missiles which many people feared might provoke the USSR and escalate into a nuclear war, and Reagan's tax reduction policies.Overall, D'Souza makes a convincing case for Reagan, however, he does tend to downplay the flaws of his presidency. For instance, he dismisses the fact that government spending prior to Reagan entering office was 27.9% of the national income. In 1988, federal spending accounted for 28.7% of the national income. One might argue that an increase of less than 1% is rather insignificant. However, when taking into consideration that Reagan ran on a platform of cutting government spending, such an increase might be viewed differently. More importantly, D'Souza gives Reagan's tax reduction too much credit; He overlooks the fact that tax reductions must be accompanied by a reduction in government spending, otherwise the difference must be borrowed. Therefore, the reduction of taxes and government spending go hand in hand. One cannot praise Reagan's tax reduction policies while disregarding the great increase in the Gross Federal Debt, from $900 billion to $2.7 trillion.Reagan was a decent president, and one might even argue a good president. However, D'Souza's claim that he was a great president is a bit over the top.All in all, this book is very well-written and enjoyable. Just make sure to treat it with a grain of salt.

Good insights into Ronald Reagan and what made him so effective. The parallels to Donald Trump are very enlightening. Makes the book seem very current.

This is a great book, I strongly recommend it!

I enjoyed Dinesh D'Sousa's short biography of Ronald Reagan. Written in the late 1990s before 9/11, before Bush 43, and before the Republican party fell into total disarray, it provides a truly fair and balanced account of Reagan's presidency, his accomplishments, and the unique personality that enabled his popularity and success as a leader. Amazingly, it contains very little of the ultra-right-wing biased anti-liberal raving that permeates the author's later works. D'Sousa is less than complementary in his assessments of other Republican politicians of the time, many of whom are still around. This book is refreshing and worth reading.

If you like Ronald Reagan, you will love this book. If you don't care for Ronald Reagan, you just might after reading this book. This is a well researched book about a truly great and extrordinary man who was one of our very best Presidents. This behind the scenes look at Ronald Reagan shows that he molded the world unto himself. He knew what he was doing all along on countless fronts. He, more that any other person, was responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union with his 'Star Wars' scare tactic. The media never gave Ronald Reagan enough credit for the things that he accomplished. They usually portrayed him as being a little dumb, and Reagan used that to his advantage. Read how and why Reagan was as dumb as a fox!

Here is a great book on Reagan. Puts the others to shame, especially the shabby and shallow treatment found in Bill O'Reilley's "Killing Reagan". This digs deeper and contrasts Mr. Reagan's life and philosophy with the misconceptions of the elitist left. Truly a great American finally given his due. Am a big fan of Dinesh DSousa. Fine writer, very intelligent and perceptive. Get this one if you can. It's the best.

Having only been a child when Reagan was President, I still recall him being poked fun at by the press and media on both sides of the Atlantic, so wanted to read about him. The book is well written but errs too much on the side of partisan rather than an equivocal account of his time in office, and the journey there. Difficult to find decent biographies of the presidents. They seem to be written either by lovers (in the non-romantic sense) or haters.

Very insightful, brilliantly written and of course a huge breath of fresh air in an otherwise smoggy anti-Reagan media world. A world where Obama is lauded by a fawning media and Reagan is dismissed as a joke is a severely misguided one ..

Aqueles que acompanham a política americana provavelmente sabem que o autor desse livro, Dinesh D'Souza, tem um viés mais conservador e mais alinhado ao espectro político conhecido popularmente como "direita" e, portanto, tende a se posicionar favoravelmente a Reagan. Contudo, esse é um dos fatores que torna essa biografia um livro intrigante. É válido ressaltar que, caso não tenha lido ainda nenhuma outra biografia sobre Ronald Reagan, essa pode não ser a melhor escolha para começar. Todavia, caso já tenha tido outras fontes de informação, esse livro é a chance de entender uma perspectiva diferente. O autor contra-argumenta diversas críticas feitas a Reagan, o que torna esse livro um contraponto ao que é apresentado em outras fontes de informação. Dessa forma, durante a leitura, é possível comparar o conteúdo dessa biografia com o conteúdo de demais biografias, o que é sempre algo positivo, uma vez que, ao analisar diferentes pontos de vista, tendemos a ter uma visão crítica e mais completa acerca do tópico em questão.

Excelente biografia, recomendo apesar do autor ter uma visão claramente pró-Reagan. Pode se dizer que não há imparcialidade em qualquer biografia, o autor desmonta críticas a Reagan vinda tanto de adversários quanto de aliados.

Great summer reading. What a great man! Can we have another, please?