The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan
A History of the End of the Cold War

very good book

I'd previously read Mann's The Rise of the Vulcans, liked it, so picked this up for some insight into the Reagan administration. On this, albeit with a very narrow focus, Mann delivers. Basically, what this is is a detailed description of how Ronald Reagan, in opposition to his political base and to......more

In the past, as a died blue in the wool liberal, I would have scoffed at the idea of Reagan as good president. Afterall, the powers that be in the liberal establishment hark on the savings and loans scandels, the Iran-Contra affair, and the way the man took a hawkish stance to foreign policy. Furthe......more

Early in his highly readable chronicle of Ronald Reagan's role in the end of the Cold War, Mann mentions how Reagan reused the Russian proverb "Trust, but verify," one of the few Russian phrases he knew, so often it annoyed Mikhail Gorbechev. Mann himself repeats Reagan's love of and use of this phr......more

James Mann has written a very good book on Ronald Reagan and the end of the Cold War. Mann rejects both the triumphalist school and the school that says President Reagan was “an amiable dunce.” Reagan took the foreign policy of the US and the West in a direction that supported Gorbachev and “created......more

As someone who was very apolitical in the 80's, my political education took a high-speed gear shift since marrying a very politically conservative fellow who worked for Reagan in the late 80's. Reagan is a fascinating individual from his anti-communist battles as the president of the Screen Actors G......more