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The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War
by
James Mann
In The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan, New York Times bestselling author James Mann directs his keen analysis to Ronald Reagan’s role in ending the Cold War. Drawing on new interviews and previously unavailable documents, Mann offers a fresh and compelling narrative—a new history assessing what Reagan did, and did not do, to help bring America’s four-decade conflict with the S...more
Hardcover, 396 pages
Published
March 5th 2009
by Viking Books
(first published January 9th 2009)
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Tag line for the book is did Regan really end the Cold War or just be in the right place at the right time. Truth, as the author points out well so far, is somewhere in between. A fascinating look at a president whose been canonized inaccurately, more of a dove than a hawk in the administration's later years.
Review still stands -- pretty solid, fairly unbiased look at how a TV movie-of-the-week saved us all from nuclear war. It would appear Regan had the fortitude to extend a wil...more
Review still stands -- pretty solid, fairly unbiased look at how a TV movie-of-the-week saved us all from nuclear war. It would appear Regan had the fortitude to extend a wil...more
In the past, as a died blue in the wool liberal, I would have scoffed at the idea of Reagan as good president. Afterall, the powers that be in the liberal establishment hark on the savings and loans scandels, the Iran-Contra affair, and the way the man took a hawkish stance to foreign policy. Furthermore, since casting my first vote for president in 2000, I had been hearing the unashamed hero worship of this man for the past 10 years. He is the standard against which all Repulicans compare ea...more
Early in his highly readable chronicle of Ronald Reagan's role in the end of the Cold War, Mann mentions how Reagan reused the Russian proverb "Trust, but verify," one of the few Russian phrases he knew, so often it annoyed Mikhail Gorbechev. Mann himself repeats Reagan's love of and use of this phrase so often that it becomes easy to see why Gorbechev got so annoyed.
This is one of the flaws in what is otherwise an excellent book. Mann repeats himself a lot, offering the ...more
This is one of the flaws in what is otherwise an excellent book. Mann repeats himself a lot, offering the ...more
As someone who was very apolitical in the 80's, my political education took a high-speed gear shift since marrying a very politically conservative fellow who worked for Reagan in the late 80's. Reagan is a fascinating individual from his anti-communist battles as the president of the Screen Actors Guild, to his tenuous initial dealings with the Soviet bloc and Gorbachev. His role in bringing down the Iron Wall, and who to trust during the new era of peristroika (versus Nixon and Kissinger's very...more
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An excellent, well documented, work showing what role Ronald Reagan exactly played in the unravelling of the cold war. The reader gets a lot of inside information (now declassified) showing the subtle contribution of Ronald Reagan and the complex relationship between Reagan and Gorbatchev in the events that lead eventually to the fall of the Berlin Wall and to the implosion of the Soviet Union. The author works carefully on the basis of the numerous documents he analysed and does not overplay th...more
The Rebellion of the title is both the book's rebellion against traditional thought on Reagan and Reagan's rebellion against most of his fellow Republicans in regards to how to deal with Gorbachev and the USSR.
In short, Reagan was one of the few people able to recognize Gorbachev was different and see steps toward ending the Cold War whereas most of his Republican contemporaries did not (I feel more of them needed to read Sun Tzu and understand the concept of victory without fighting...more
In short, Reagan was one of the few people able to recognize Gorbachev was different and see steps toward ending the Cold War whereas most of his Republican contemporaries did not (I feel more of them needed to read Sun Tzu and understand the concept of victory without fighting...more
Ronald Reagan has proven to be enigmatic for historians, with most of their work being unsatisfying or, as with the case of Edmund Morris' Dutch, bizarre. James Mann fares much better here, largely because 'The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan' focuses primarily on Reagan's evolving understanding and approach to the Soviet Union and Gorbachev in particular. It's an extended monograph, really; and, mostly, well done. The book is in four parts. Part I deals with the differences between Nixon and Reag...more
I was born in 1979 so the 80s took place during my childhood and I was oblivious to the world around me. I learned a great deal!! This book was thorough, though repetitive, and made a well-researched argument about the importance of Gorbachev in the ending of the Cold War. I had no idea what a big part he had played, with his efforts to disarm the world's nuclear weapons. It is also clear that Reagan was the right man to deal with him. He came to believe that Gorbachev was not the typical e...more
The author attempts to tell an unbiased account of Reagan's role in the collapse of communism and the U.S.'s winning of the cold war, but doesn't delve deep enough. This reader came away convinced that Secretary of State George Shultz was behind most of the diplomatic tactics used by Reagan, who's main role was to act as the public face of the administration. George Bush, while pretending to take a harder line on Gorbachev once Reagan left office, actually implemented many of Shultz's plans duri...more
Not bad... I thought it could have been organized a little bit differently... Some chapters was just repeats and I felt one or two could have been left out. Otherwise it was an interesting read. Never thought I would like it. First time for everything.
An absolute must read for students of the Cold War and of Reagan. It is ironic that Reagan is now such a conservative icon given that, as Mann reminds us, he was positively vilified by the Right for reaching out Gorbachev. Also an interesting case study in how personalities can shape history. Most interesting to me was his relationship with Suzanne Massie and how she helped him understand what was really going on in the Soviet Union while she circumvented Reagan's official advisers with his a...more
I have just finished reading this book. I was quite impressed and found out a few things about Reagan, Gorbachev, and Bush that I did not know before. Gorbachev ended the Cold war through circumstances that he really helped put into place. Reagan encouraged Gorbachev to do what was needed. Also, Reagan almost turned 360 degrees on his views of Russia. I thought this was just an excellent read and I would encourage others to read it.
I may not think that Reagan was the most progressive president of my lifetime, but Mann's history of his last years in office in regard to the Cold War was unexpected and set the U.S. to dial back nuclear armament against the Soviet Union.
Interesting read for history buffs and those who were alive during the Cold War...even if it were only the end of it.
Interesting read for history buffs and those who were alive during the Cold War...even if it were only the end of it.
This really is a well-written book. Unfortunately, I had to return it to the library before I was able to finish it. I plan to either check it out again or buy it to finish it.
It was a good read, not great.
So far, it's just fantastic.
Brian
is currently reading it
For a child of the 80's this book is great a read, shows how reagan, the cold war warrior and communist-hater, eventually came to the conclusion that meeting the enemy face-to-face was the only way to resolve conflict.
Has great insight from the man himself, his rise in power, and his friendship with Tricky Dick Nixon.
Has great insight from the man himself, his rise in power, and his friendship with Tricky Dick Nixon.
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