Reagan

July 15, 2018
Veteran biographer Spitz (Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, 2014, etc.) offers a broad and occasionally deep cradle-to-grave examination of Ronald Reagan (1911-2004).The author's take on the controversial former president is mostly balanced, as he mixes the policy failures and successes with the personal shortcomings and strengths; this is neither pathography nor hagiography. However, some readers may question the book's role within the biographic enterprise. Just three years ago, acclaimed historian H.W. Brands released a mostly lauded Reagan biography that was just as massive as this one. In 1991, master journalist Lou Cannon, an acknowledged Reagan expert, published the memorably titled President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. Between those two books, there were several other first-rate accounts of Reagan's life published. Nonetheless, readers seeking the freshest Reagan biography, with access to the most recently available research material, should welcome Spitz's entry. The strictly chronological approach is easy to track, and because the author is such a skilled stylist, the narrative flows smoothly. The major strength of this version is Spitz's consistently diligent effort to provide context beyond just his main subject (most readers already know the highlights). That broader context is especially useful in understanding the young Reagan's family, especially his rolling-stone father; in realizing that Reagan rose above his modest family circumstances and indifferent academic performance by being the right guy at the right place at the right time, particularly with regard to the start of a movie career; and in grasping how he quickly morphed from a supporter of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to a conservative, anti-communist zealot. Reagan resisted a career in electoral politics for a brief time, but he determined that career would play to his strengths as a handsome true believer in American exceptionalism. Spitz also skillfully portrays numerous supporting characters, especially Reagan wives Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis.A solid entry in the realm of presidential biography.

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Starred review from August 27, 2018
This captivating and evenhanded biography of America’s first celebrity president, Ronald Reagan, reads like a novel but doesn’t skimp on the scholarship. Spitz (Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child) starts with a prologue about Reagan’s great-grandparents’ emigration to America in 1857 and then breaks Reagan’s life into four sections: “Dutch” (Midwest youth), “Ronnie” (the Hollywood years), “Governor” (of California), and “Mr. President.” Despite pacing that keeps things moving at a steady clip, evocative detail abounds throughout; Spitz recreates such episodes as Reagan’s 1976 presidential primary challenge and the 1981 assassination attempt in gripping and sometimes even amusing fashion. (As nurses cut off the “natty” clothes he was wearing when shot, Spitz writes, “ ‘You’re ruining my suit!’ the president protested.”) Impressive research, including numerous interviews with a wide array of Reagan cohorts, from 1930s movie star Olivia de Havilland to national security adviser Robert “Bud” McFarlane, undergirds the exceptional writing. Spitz synthesizes other scholars’ analyses, the firsthand memoirs of key players, original press coverage, and archival holdings. Readers need not be Reagan fans or Republicans to enjoy this outstanding biography. Agent: Sloan Harris, International Creative Management.

Starred review from September 1, 2018
No 1939 moviegoer could have guessed that the handsome star of the now-forgotten action film Secret Service of the Air would one day require Secret Service protection as president of the United States. Spitz here traces the improbable career of B-movie actor Ronald Reagan as he enters political life with a Jimmy Stewart-like pose, wrests control of a debate with George Bush by dropping a line from Spencer Tracy ( I paid for this microphone ), and takes down Jimmy Carter with John Wayne's swagger. But as president, Reagan faces challenges calling for more than Tinseltown virtues?more resilience of the sort readers see him develop during his hardscrabble midwestern childhood with an alcoholic father, more courage of the sort he learns as a lifeguard earning college tuition by pulling drowning swimmers from treacherous river currents. Spitz indeed characterizes Reagan's steely determination in dealing with Soviet leaders as the culminating example of hard-won personal strength. But despite his genuine appreciation for Reagan's strengths, Spitz illuminates the Gipper's considerable flaws, manifested especially in his irrational faith in Reaganomics and in his stunning ignorance of the Iran-Contra illegalities. In visiting his final years, readers share the pathos of Reagan's descent into dementia and feel the intense sorrow of the millions who mourn his passing. Candid, complete, compelling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2018

Journalist (e.g., the New York Times, Life), music manager (e.g., Bruce Springsteen), and biographer (e.g., The Beatles, Julia Child), Spitz takes on the 40th president in what's billed as the first post-partisan study. Not a hagiography, not a bash, with attention paid to Reagan's Hollywood years and dislike of political maneuvering.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2018

Spitz (The Beatles: The Biography) bases this account on extensive interviews and the family papers of Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) to reveal his subject's roles as media master, labor union leader, California governor, and U.S. president. Reagan inherited a love of acting and religiosity from his mother and at least a semblance of gregariousness from his father. According to Spitz, he was resilient, provocative, approachable, and underestimated. As governor, he delegated the tedium of policy transactions to capable colleagues in pursuit of an ever-bigger stage. Although there's some insight into his and wife Nancy's complicated family backgrounds, omissions about Reagan's later life may dismay fastidious historians. Among these exclusions are the long-lasting connections with conservative politician William F. Buckley Jr. In contextualizing Reagan's values as reflective of his small-town, Midwestern roots, Spitz emphasizes the president's lifelong admiration for Franklin D. Roosevelt and dislike of the internecine nuclear weapons race. VERDICT Spitz offers opinions but largely no interpretations, underscoring personalities over policies in a work that complements but does not supplant other titles such as H.W. Brands's Reagan: The Life.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.