A warm, intimate portrait of President Ronald Reagan by his confidant and friend of over 35 years. Former aide and long-time family friend Michael Deaver first met Ronald Reagan during his 1966 campaign for governor of California and later served him in Sacramento and Washington, DC, as the president's deputy chief of staff. In A Different Drummer, Reagan emerges as charismatic and unwaveringly optimistic, a devoted husband and dedicated leader, disciplined and tough. As Deaver points out in his introduction, 'worked eight years doing the toughest job on earth; criss-crossed the world; and survived an assassin's bullet, a devastating riding accident, cancer, and brain surgery all after he turned seventy.' Deaver also shares the lows, including the tough times that would test the strength of their friendship. Finally, he shares a look at Reagan today as he battles Alzheimer's disease. It is Nancy Reagan's finest hour, Deaver writes, a validation of the greatest love story he has ever known.
Former Ronald Reagan advisor and bestselling author Michael K. Deaver gathers together some of the nation's leading thinkers, pundits, and political figures to examine what it means to be a conservative in America today. As the power of the Republican party continues to grow, a bold new conservative movement is taking form in America. In Why I Am a Reagan Conservative -- a timely and unprecedented new collection about the great man who fueled the fire of the political movement -- some of the most powerful minds in politics and media provide the reasons behind their beliefs, and explain the late Ronald Reagan's impact on the Grand Old Party and the nation. Among Them Bill Frist on ideology's roots in life experience Robert D. Novak on how the government is the problem, not the solution Bob Dole on a long legacy of timeless values -- from the Depression to post-9/11 Ken Mehlman on freedom as the foundation of international peace Orrin G. Hatch on the Reagan Revolution's success in restoring essential American values J. C. Watts, Jr., on Ronald Reagan, who challenged America to become greater And many more . . .
She was the daughter of a single mother, a Hollywood movie star, the wife of one of the greatest presidents of the twentieth century, a cancer survivor. And she waged her greatest battle against her husband's Alzheimer's disease. Nancy Davis Reagan has led an extraordinary life. Now, Mike Deaver, whose relationship with Mrs. Reagan dates back to the 1960s, shares the side of Nancy that only her intimates know. The Nancy Reagan with whom most Americans are familiar is a caricature shaped by consistently negative press coverage. But the Nancy Reagan whom Mike Deaver has come to know for more than thirty-five years, the woman portrayed in Nancy, is far more complicated. Nancy has been no bit player in the Reagan story. Deaver believes that Ronald Reagan would not have risen to such distinction without Nancy at his side. To the man Ronald Reagan, Nancy gave the gift of her unrestricted love. She was his respite, his comfort, his reward at the end of the day. When Ronnie's image might be tainted, she would fervently guard it, even at the expense of her own. Now, Nancy is guardian and nurturer of the Great Communicator's legacy.
She was the daughter of a single mother, a Hollywood movie star, the wife of one of the greatest presidents of the twentieth century, a cancer survivor. And she waged her greatest battle against her husband's Alzheimer's disease. Nancy Davis Reagan has led an extraordinary life. Now, Mike Deaver, whose relationship with Mrs. Reagan dates back to the 1960s, shares the side of Nancy that only her intimates know. The Nancy Reagan with whom most Americans are familiar is a caricature shaped by consistently negative press coverage. But the Nancy Reagan whom Mike Deaver has come to know for more than thirty-five years, the woman portrayed in Nancy, is far more complicated. Nancy has been no bit player in the Reagan story. Deaver believes that Ronald Reagan would not have risen to such distinction without Nancy at his side. To the man Ronald Reagan, Nancy gave the gift of her unrestricted love. She was his respite, his comfort, his reward at the end of the day. When Ronnie's image might be tainted, she would fervently guard it, even at the expense of her own. Now, Nancy is guardian and nurturer of the Great Communicator's legacy.
In Destiny's Consul: America's Greatest Presidents, presidential scholar Michael P. Riccards provides a concise introduction to the lives, presidencies, and personal qualities of ten great individuals whom Riccards argues are our greatest presidents. It will be of interest to anyone interested in the presidency of American history.
This brief, thought-provoking text evaluates the performance of recent presidents from Johnson to Bush, finding that, overall, each has failed to live up to public expectations. Written by one of the top presidency scholars today, The Presidential Dilemma reflects on the idea that as our country's problems grow, our politicians seem to shrink. Arguing that American presidents of the last 40 years have largely failed to meet the needs, expectations, and responsibilities placed upon them, the book discusses how presidents might better maximize their opportunities for leadership and suggests a distinctive theory of presidential politics: presidents, facing a system of multiple veto points, seek to maximize power and influence.The third edition of Genovese's stimulating book is thoroughly updated to reflect presidential development in recent years, and a new introduction brings his arguments current. As he demonstrates, the emergence of democracy as a new social and political paradigm undermined traditional authority and legitimacy. Subjects no longer automatically follow; now citizens must be persuaded. They may give to a leader their authority and power, or not. As Genovese notes, in a world of mass consumerism, those wishing to lead have precious little to offer by way of inducement.Genovese's goal is to examine the reasons why the performance of recent presidents has been underwhelming, discuss how they might maximize their opportunities for leadership, and ask a key question: Can presidents be both powerful and accountable? The book follows a clear format and tries to show why America's officeholders have so rarely been leaders and how presidents can become leaders instead of mere officeholders.
The Guide to the Presidency is an extensive study of the most important office of the U.S. political system. Its two volumes describe the history, workings and people involved in this office from Washington to Clinton. The thirty-seven chapters of the Guide, arranged into seven distinct subject areas (ranging from the origins of the office to the powers of the presidency to selection and removal) cover every aspect of the presidency. Initially dealing with the constitutional evolution of the presidency and its development, the book goes on to expand on the history of the office, how the presidency operates alongside the numerous departments and agents of the federal bureaucracy, and how the selection procedure works in ordinary and special cicumstances. Of special interest to the reader will be the illustrated biographies of every president from Washington to the present day, and the detailed overview of the vice-presidents and first ladies of each particular office. Also included are two special appendices, one of which gathers together important addresses and speeches from the Declaration of Independence to Clinton's Inaugural Address, and another which provides results from elections and polls and statistics from each office.
Creating Conservatism charts the vital role of canonical post–World War II (1945–1964) books in generating, guiding, and sustaining conservatism as a political force in the United States. Dedicated conservatives have argued for decades that the conservative movement was a product of print, rather than a march, a protest, or a pivotal moment of persecution. The Road to Serfdom, Ideas Have Consequences, Witness, The Conservative Mind, God and Man at Yale, The Conscience of a Conservative, and other mid-century texts became influential not only among conservative office-holders, office-seekers, and well-heeled donors but also at dinner tables, school board meetings, and neighborhood reading groups. These books are remarkable both because they enumerated conservative political positions and because their memorable language demonstrated how to take those positions—functioning, in essence, as debate handbooks. Taking an expansive approach, the author documents the wide influence of the conservative canon on traditionalist and libertarian conservatives. By exploring the varied uses to which each founding text has been put from the Cold War to the culture wars, Creating Conservatism generates original insights about the struggle over what it means to think and speak conservatively in America.
In this era of polarized politics, the image of President Ronald Reagan stands as a litmus test for party loyalty. To the conservative right, Reagan is the Great Communicator, a venerated icon of independent American spirit who restored national pride and power. To those on the left, he is an amiable dunce who distracted voters with anecdotes while dismantling the government to serve corporate interests. But as Michael Schaller reveals in his eye-opening biography, both extremes fall short of capturing the true essence of this captivating and contradictory man. This succinct, eloquent narrative reveals the dramatic force of the man behind the image. Schaller provides a poignant account of Reagan's struggles and achievements, from his small-town upbringing in rural Illinois, the son of an itinerant alcoholic, to his cinematic success in Hollywood, entry into California politics, and meteoric rise to the White House. Following the path of his life, Schaller illuminates Reagan's appeal to Americans of all regions and backgrounds, highlights his momentous impact on American politics, and describes his determination, once in power, to live up to his firm, long-established beliefs and ideals. A fast-paced, compact narrative filled with fascinating and often surprising details, Ronald Reagan sheds light on Reagan's real accomplishments at home and abroad and what they mean for America today.
“Small Wars is unique in its complexity and breadth. This book would be of great interest to both military and diplomatic historians, and those that teach Recent America.” —Nancy Gentile Ford, author of Issues of War and Peace Today, conventional fighting waged by massed, industrial armies is nearly extinct as a viable means of warfare, replaced by a broad and diverse array of conflicts that consume the modern American military. Fought in sprawling urban areas of the underdeveloped world or in desolate border regions where ethnicity and tradition reign, these “small wars” involve a vast and intricate network of operations dedicated to attacking the cultural, political, financial, and military layers that surround America’s new enemies. In this intriguing study, Michael Gambone explores America’s approach to small wars since Vietnam, providing a fascinating analysis of the basic goals, missions, conduct, and consequences of modern American conflict. Going beyond a simple comparison of Vietnam to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Gambone thoroughly tracks the continuous evolution of U.S. intervention between these events, revealing a dramatic shift in the role of the American military to covert operations that require fluidity, creativity, and ingenuity. He examines in detail the many different forms of military intervention that America has taken in the last forty years, including actions in Central America in the 1980s, the first Gulf War, airstrikes in Kosovo in the 1990s, and the war on terror, as well as the Iran-Contra affair, the drug war in Columbia, and the role of private military contractors such as Blackwater. After the Cold War, Gambone shows, American military missions served a wide variety of tasks—peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism—that significantly departed from conventional missions, a trend that continued and expanded after 9/11. By exploring the history and assessing the effectiveness of the small wars fought since Vietnam, Gambone reveals the importance of these smaller actions in modern military planning and operations and clearly traces the development of American warfare from the massive military machine of World War II into a complex hybrid of traditional and innovative techniques. MICHAEL GAMBONE, a professor of history at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, is the author of The Greatest Generation Comes Home: The Veteran in American Society and editor of Documents of American Diplomacy: From the American Revolution to the Present.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The Untethered Soul and Living Untethered comes the astonishing true-life story about the spiritual harmony and personal happiness he found when he just let go. “With his hallmark precision and clarity Michael Singer reveals how everyday life, doing business in the world, and spiritual practice can be synchronized to carry us into the heart of life’s unimaginable perfection.”—Jack Canfield, co-author of The Success Principles and co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series In The Surrender Experiment, Michael A. Singer tells the extraordinary story of what happened when, after a deep spiritual awakening, he decided to relinquish his personal fears and desires and simply let life unfold before him. Singer shares how this pivotal decision to embrace the flow of life led him to extraordinary success, sustained him through times of crisis, and allowed him to cultivate profound inner peace—whether as a young man pursuing a life of solitude in the woods, the founder of a thriving spiritual community in Florida, or the CEO of a billion-dollar medical software company. As he takes you through his grand experiment, Singer demonstrates how surrender is the key to a peaceful and harmonious life. His remarkable and unexpected personal experiences will challenge your deepest assumptions, teaching you how to stop making the outside world conform to your desires, let go of the need to control everything, and place your trust in life’s perfection. Thought-provoking and moving, The Surrender Experiment will inspire you to seek the calm and freedom that comes from letting go.
Some say it's simply information, mirroring the world. Others believe it's propaganda, promoting a partisan view. But news, Michael Schudson tells us, is really both and neither; it is a form of culture, complete with its own literary and social conventions and powerful in ways far more subtle and complex than its many critics might suspect. A penetrating look into this culture, The Power of News offers a compelling view of the news media's emergence as a central institution of modern society, a key repository of common knowledge and cultural authority. One of our foremost writers on journalism and mass communication, Schudson shows us the news evolving in concert with American democracy and industry, subject to the social forces that shape the culture at large. He excavates the origins of contemporary journalistic practices, including the interview, the summary lead, the preoccupation with the presidency, and the ironic and detached stance of the reporter toward the political world. His book explodes certain myths perpetuated by both journalists and critics. The press, for instance, did not bring about the Spanish-American War or bring down Richard Nixon; TV did not decide the Kennedy-Nixon debates or turn the public against the Vietnam War. Then what does the news do? True to their calling, the media mediate, as Schudson demonstrates. He analyzes how the news, by making knowledge public, actually changes the character of knowledge and allows people to act on that knowledge in new and significant ways. He brings to bear a wealth of historical scholarship and a keen sense for the apt questions about the production, meaning, and reception of news today.
The New York Times bestselling memoir of Ronald Reagan by his longtime aide and friend "These are memories of a friend and they span over the 35 years that I have known and loved Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Primarily anecdotal, there will be no footnotes, simply my best efforts to reconstruct these years and what they have meant to me."--Michael Deaver RONALD REAGAN AND ME will be comprised of six parts: The Early Years: Deaver and his first meeting with Reagan during his campaign for governor of California in 1966. His first impressions of Reagan's his management style, media savvy and incredible ability to communicate. Reagan: The Man: A look at the traits that make the man: perfectionist, competitor, unwavering discipline, and a deep sense of purpose and destiny. Sincerely, Ronald Reagan: Never-before-published excerpts from letters Reagan wrote to people of various backgrounds. The Campaigner: On the stump during the presidential campaigns. Mr. President: Reagan in action in the Oval Office. How he changed after he was shot, and his battles with Congress and Communism. The Long Goodbye: With Nancy's cooperation, a look at the Reagans' struggle with Alzheimers and the impact it has had on their marriage and the family.
Essays on the fortieth president and how he changed our world: “Hands down the finest compilation on Ronald Reagan that exists.” ―Robert G. Kaufman, author of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine A former Sunday school teacher and Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan was an unlikely candidate for president, but his charisma, conviction, and leadership earned him the governorship of California—from which he launched his successful bid to become the fortieth president of the United States in 1980. Reagan’s political legacy continues to be the standard by which all conservatives are judged. In The Enduring Reagan, editor Charles W. Dunn brings together eight prominent scholars to examine the political career and legacy of Ronald Reagan. This anthology offers a bold reassessment of the Reagan years and the impact they had on the United States and the world. Includes contributions by Charles W. Dunn • Hugh Heclo • James W. Ceaser • George H. Nash • Stephen F. Knott • Paul G. Kengor • Andrew E. Busch • Steven F. Hayward • Michael Barone
We take our news for granted: that it will inform us about the significant people and cite the authoritative ones, reflect the world the way it is, and tell us why something happens as it does. Now, six working journalists, press critics, and scholars at the leading edge of media criticism have been specially commissioned to make the familiar act of reading the news into a fresh and revealing event. Taking the famous "five W's and an H" (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How), the authors turn these questions back on journalism for the first time to show us exactly what to make of the press. Leon V. Sigal Who? Sources Make the News Carlin Romano What? Grisly Truth about Bare Facts Michael Schudson When? Deadlines, Datelines, and History Where? Cartography, Community, and the Cold War James W. Carey Why And How? The Dark Continent of American Journalism Robert Karl Manoff Writing the News (By Telling the "Story") For everyone who reads the newspaper, for the journalist, and for the media critic alike, these essays offer fresh, provocative insights into a centerpiece of American culture, the news.
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