The Essential Ronald Reagan

Recounts the life and career of a great American president from his small-town, Midwestern roots through his Hollywood years - as big screen star and leader of the Screen Actors Guild; his growing involvement in politics leading to his election as governor of California; his two terms as president; and the worldwide mourning of his death in June 2004, and provides an assessment of his place in American and world history." This biography views Reagan's life through a political lens, pointing out the influences of his father's fierce independence and his mother's staunch Christian faith, FDR's speech and rhetoric, his anticommunism and Hollywood stardom, his dependence on leading conservatives for ideas, and his close relationship with the conservative movement from the mid-1950s through his presidency.