Following his departure from office, Ronald Reagan was marginalized from public interest. But like Lincoln, who was also attacked for decades after his death, Reagan deserves to be regarded as one of our greatest presidents, an exemplar of true conservative values.
In this bold and philosophical reevaluation, Diggins reveals that Reagan was a far more active and sophisticated president than we ever knew. His negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev and his opposition to foreign interventions demonstrate that he was not a rigid hawk. In his pursuit of Emersonian ideals and distrust of big government, he was an open-minded libertarian, combining a reverence for America’s hallowed historical traditions with an implacable faith in the limitless opportunities of the future.
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“Diggins does a superb job of tracing Reagan’s intellectual development from old school New Dealer to thoughtful, Emersonian libertarian, and also firmly establishes Reagan’s credentials as a major architect of communism’s final collapse.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A significant book…Diggins holds that Reagan needs serious attention from intellectual historians.”
— Kirkus Reviews" Perhaps a bit too revisionist. Reagan might not be as conservative as some remember him...but I still am not convinced by Diggins's claim that he is a liberal "
— Debbie, 12/20/2011
John Patrick Diggins is the author of The Rise and Fall of the American Left, The Proud Decades: 1941–1960, and biographies of John Adams and Max Weber. He is a distinguished professor of history at the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Ray Porter has garnered two Audie nominations as well as several Earphones Awards and enthusiastic reviews for his sparkling narration of audiobooks. A fifteen-year veteran of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he has also appeared in numerous films and television shows.