Reagan

The Life

De: H. W. Brands

Narrado por: Stephen Hoye

From master storyteller and New York Times best-selling biographer H. W. Brands, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, comes the first full life of Ronald Reagan since his death.

Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty. Reagan sought to restore democracy by bolstering capitalism. In Brands' telling, how Reagan, who voted four times for FDR, engineered a conservative transformation of American politics is both a riveting personal journey and the story of America in the modern era.

Brands follows Reagan as his ambition for ever-larger stages compelled him from a troubled childhood in small-town Illinois to become a radio announcer and then the quintessential public figure of modern America, a movie star. In Hollywood, Reagan edged closer to public service as the president of the Screen Actors' Guild before a stalled film career led to his unlikely reinvention as the voice of General Electric and a spokesman for corporate America. Reagan follows its subject on his improbable political rise, from the 1960s, when he was first elected governor of California, to his triumphant election in 1980 as president of the United States. Brands employs archival sources not available to previous biographers and dozens of interviews with surviving members of the administration. The result is an exciting narrative and a fresh understanding of a crucially important president and his era.

©2015 H.W. Brands (P)2015 Random House Audio

Reagan's work is consistently a captivating read

I just finished my fourth biography about Reagan, and it's also my fifth book by H.W. Brands! As with his previous works, it’s definitely a worthwhile read.

In my opinion, Reagan is one of the most significant figures of my lifetime, so I was hoping for a little more from this book. I really enjoy Brands' writing, but I felt like he focused a bit too much on some of the negative and bureaucratic aspects of Reagan’s life, rather than highlighting the incredible man he was.

That said, it's still a really good book, and anything related to Reagan is always worth diving into!

Superb... And I'm not even a fan of his politics!

Reagan fans will love this, but even those who are not from as far to the right as he was will appreciate this incredible story of an actor who turned into a union leader and changed from being a Democrat to Republican then eventually President. He had an incredible life and this book honours his memory.

Better to Read This One...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I recommend this book. A wonderful, in depth look at the Reagan presidency. It is, however, long, long, long; over 31 hours. Had the narrator been better it would have been thoroughly enjoyable--but the narration made it difficult to listen. Perhaps reading this book would have been better for me.

Did Stephen Hoye do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The narrator has a clear voice and reads well, but I struggled listening to him. He comes across as snarky; where he places emphasis on words bothered me.

Any additional comments?

Reagan's second term was dysfunctional (lots of internal power plays), I think partly because Nancy was controlling and made the staff on edge--She was getting her cue from an astrologer in California. People who believe the Reagan presidency was a Christian one are mistaken. Nancy wielded a lot of power. During his second term, people were beginning to notice faint signs of dementia. Nevertheless, Reagan knew how to communicate and inspire. He was a good morale builder and made people feel good about their country--something we could use more of today.

Great book, terrible performance

Super annoying voice of the performer, hard to get over it, does a great disservice to this super book.

Great book, well done.

This was very well done, there are some points that were not covered but overall it was extremely thorough.

A Great Listen!

A Great Listen, about a Great but Human Man! I’m great full to have served under President Reagan.

Great man but seemingly biased author

The story was very good. And very thorough and I learned a lot I did not know. However, the author took many liberties in relating the presumed thoughts and motives behind Reagan and others in the story. He interlace them to seem like facts but clearly seems to be the authors Bias toward directing blame toward and deflecting credit from Reagan whenever possible.

However, the story had enough great attributes of Reagan that the bias disbursed throughout would only mildly annoy the fan of Reagan, while at the same time act to entertain the critics of Reagan. It's unfortunate when authors let their own biases creep into nonfiction books like this. In this respect, at times it had more of a feel of historical fiction. In spite of this, still probably worth listening to.

good not great

A balanced look at Reagan. I have always admired Reagan and agreed with most of his policies. This bio gives him due credit for his accomplishments but also fairly points out his faults, such as his hands-off management style, avoidance of conflict, and the shameful way he let Nancy have so much influence over affairs of state. The book certainly opened my eyes to what Nancy was really like. The author spends a great deal of time quoting people such as Gorbachev, but I think that's a good thing, allowing the listener to make their own judgments. However, the book did feel a bit lightweight compared with other biographies. But it is a one-volume overview. All the reviewers here who mention Caro are comparing apples to oranges, as the LBJ bio is multi-volume, offering far more detail and depth. As for the reader, he turned me off at first with his strange intonations, but I got used to it. Overall a good overview of the Reagan years, even if you were an adult in the 80s like me.

masterfully told story

President Ronald Reagan remains one of America's greatest presidents due to his tumultuous time in office. Although difficult times find the man, Reagan dealt with these challenges neither with wit, chart. and grace. He will forever be known for being one of the greatest statesmen America has ever produced.

Where's the beef?

What did you like best about Reagan? What did you like least?

This bio is rich in information but scant in insight. The author had his work cut out for him – Reagan was famous for being inscrutable, even to those closest to him. Hence, this bio relies heavily on the public record as well as Reagan’s speeches and interviews for material Brands does a good job chronicling Reagan’s presidency – there is rich behind the scenes details of the Reykjavik summit in particular, but you get the sense that Reagan’s aides and confidants either weren’t interviewed for the book or weren't in the mood to talk. What you get is a detailed but superficial (though not uncritical) bio but perhaps that is the best that can be expected, especially since the right has made Reagan such a venerated, unassailable figurehead. Readers hoping for a view into what made Reagan tick, or his personal life, will likely come away disappointed.