The Reagan Revolution

by Rowland Evans, Robert D. Novak

In this time of aftermath, quite a relevant book.

Genres: History

257 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Columnist, pundit, and author who earned the ire of liberals and the praise of conservatives. He co-wrote columns and books with Robert Novak. The pair also cohosted Evans and Novak, a CNN political talk show.

Reviews

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a highly sympathetic portrait of Reagan written not long after his election and subsequent to the assassination attempt in March 1981. If you weren’t fond of Reagan and his policies back in the day, and if your perspective has grown even more sour in the years since, you’ll want to leave this alone. If, on the other hand, you can set aside your political preferences in the name of learning fascinating bits of historical information, you’ll do well with this book. I was a little surprised that Evans and Novak would write something that was relatively optimistic regarding Reagan’s presidency. But the book really shines in terms of the historical under-the-hood stuff they write about. I found the wheeling and dealing in 1976 at the Republican convention fascinating. You get a look at the personalities behind the nomination in 1976 that almost was.

There are pages devoted to campaign shakeups and administration clanging and banging following 1980 as well, and all that was fascinating to read. The authors divide the book into sections that look at the early years of the administration, and it covers everything from nuclear disarmament to Falwell’s Moral Majority.

[Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a giddy time for conservatives was the election of 1980. I remember the College Republicans on my campus partying on Election Night with a future so bright they'd have to wear shades. Evans and Novak beneath their journalistic veneer relish the prospect of a Reagan presidency. This book was published in 1981, so they could not have known that, while it took 31 years for the post-WW2 national debt to triple, Reagan would accomplish it in 8. The book precedes Iran-Contra. It is a fine chronicle of promises made. Of promises kept, well, the book came out too soon to keep score.