false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174287528m/376589.jpg 376589 5 Why did Pulitzer-winning Theodore Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris controversially choose to write his authorized biography of Ronald Reagan in the form of a historical novel? There's a clue in a quote the book attributes to Jane Wyman, Reagan's first wife. As Ronnie speechified about the Red Menace at a 1940s Hollywood party, Wyman allegedly whispered to a friend, "I'm so bored with him, I'll either kill him or kill myself." This anecdote, if true, is more revealing than Nancy Reagan's charge in the book that Jane had attempted suicide to get Ronnie to marry her in the first place. Jane was no intellectual--Morris cracks that "If Jane had ever heard of Finland, she probably thought it was an aquarium"--but he found to his horror, after years of research, that he felt much the same as Wyman. Reagan was as boring as a box of rocks, as elusive as a ghost. <p> Decades before Alzheimer's clouded Reagan's mind, he showed a terrifying lack of human presence. "I was real proud when Dad came to my high school commencement," reports his son, Michael Reagan. After posing for photos with Michael and his classmates, the future president came up to him, looked right in his eyes, and said, "Hi, my name's Ronald Reagan. What's yours?" Poor Michael replied, "Dad, it's <I>me</I>. Your son. Mike." <p> Despite deep research and unprecedented access--no previous biography has ever been authorized by a sitting president--Morris could get no closer to Reagan's elusive soul than Reagan's own kids could. So Morris decided to dramatize Reagan's life with several invented characters--including a fictionalized version of himself and an imaginary gossip columnist who makes wicked comments on Reagan's career. This is one weird tactic, forcing the reader constantly to consult the footnotes at the back of the book to sort things out, and Morris makes it tougher by presenting his invented characters as real, even in the footnotes. <p> Ultimately, the hubbub over Morris's odd method is beside the point. His speculative entry into Reagan's life and mind is plausible, dramatic, literary, and lit by dazzling flashes of insight. The narrator watches the young Reagan as a lifeguard (years before the real Morris was born):<p> <blockquote> One tunnels along in a shroud of silvery bubbles, insulated from any sight or sound.... Others may swim alongside for a while, but their individuality tends to refract away, through the bubbles and the blur. Often I have marveled at Reagan's cool, unhurried progress through crises of politics and personnel, and thought to myself, <I>He sees the world as a swimmer sees it</I>. </blockquote><p> We cannot verify Morris's notion that Reagan probably approved the illegal Iran-Contra funding without having a clue it was illegal, or that the "Star Wars" program sprang from his love of Edgar Rice Burroughs's first novel, <I>A Princess of Mars</I>, which featured glass-domed cities. But however bizarre and ignorant his thoughts were, however cold his heart, Morris believes, the guy did crush the Evil Empire and achieve greatness. Morris achieves a kind of greatness, too, but one wishes he had written a more straightforward dramatization of history. <I>--Tim Appelo</I> 366438 9 1999 Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan total:223|5:31|4:57|3:75|2:37|1:23| 223 705 307 32 4 1 false false Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Sat Jan 26 00:42:06 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 08:52:25 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Tue Oct 14 17:17:46 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 14 17:34:53 -0700 2008 The Devil in the White City that everyone loves so much. I can't read stuff like that because I need ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Oct 29 16:54:05 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 18 12:52:30 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 18 12:54:31 -0700 2007 1 0 false false Fri Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 25 15:28:48 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 15:45:59 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jan 07 15:19:30 -0800 2008 Thu Jul 17 08:57:19 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 16 06:10:13 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 06:15:27 -0700 2008
It's clear from the start that Morris has an objectivity p...more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Fri Feb 27 09:30:37 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 20:00:25 -0800 2009 The book sketched a pretty one-dimentional character that seemed more tragic comic book than acurrate. ...more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Nov 22 12:23:20 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 12:24:19 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Mar 04 19:11:30 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 19:13:23 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 15:28:07 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 15:28:56 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun May 11 20:48:08 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 11 14:01:30 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Apr 10 06:48:37 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 10 06:48:37 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Apr 02 09:41:09 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 02 09:41:42 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Nov 11 01:25:22 -0800 2008 Sun Sep 21 13:55:47 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 11 01:25:22 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jun 30 09:43:14 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 11 10:34:13 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 27 08:55:24 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 08:59:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Feb 23 08:36:10 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 08:38:05 -0800 2008
This was a...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Feb 01 09:31:34 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 01 09:33:24 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Sat Jul 14 06:11:51 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 14 06:14:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 20 19:52:59 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 22 16:53:55 -0800 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=376589