{"id":2718,"date":"2012-11-01T09:28:20","date_gmt":"2012-11-01T07:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.military-history.us\/?p=2718"},"modified":"2012-10-31T09:29:09","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T07:29:09","slug":"book-review-the-reagan-diaries-by-ronald-reagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.military-history.us\/2012\/11\/book-review-the-reagan-diaries-by-ronald-reagan\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan"},"content":{"rendered":"

I read The Reagan Diaries<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0when they first came out and had occasion to reread them not long ago when I had nothing better to do. \u00c2\u00a0I mainly read the book, not because I am a rabid Reagan conservative, although I have been so accused, but because Reagan was president when I was a kid in Junior and High School and he is also the first political figure who I really paid any attention to while they were in office. \u00c2\u00a0I vaguely remember Carter being president, but only because my dad got angry every time his name was mentioned. \u00c2\u00a0I learned some of my first curse words when Carter would come on TV. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Reagan was a pretty earth-shaking figure who broke America out of its post-Vietnam malaise and made us realize what a great country we are again. \u00c2\u00a0For that alone he should be on the list of great presidents. \u00c2\u00a0He is also an almost endless font of pithy quotations. \u00c2\u00a0But enough about the man and more about the book.<\/p>\n

The book itself consists of Reagan’s entries into his personal diary while he was president. The thing that came\u00c2\u00a0through\u00c2\u00a0to me while reading the diary entries was the depth of sincerity in them. \u00c2\u00a0He truly believed he was doing what he did for the right reasons and his humanity, faith, and earnestness come through in his words. \u00c2\u00a0A person does not have to agree with him to realize that he was a selfless person who became president out of a desire to serve his nation instead of personal aggrandizement. \u00c2\u00a0The Reagan that you get to know through his diary entries is a man like the rest of us and not a conniving politician as he is\u00c2\u00a0often\u00c2\u00a0made out to be.<\/p>\n

I found the Reagan\u00c2\u00a0Diaries\u00c2\u00a0to be enjoyable to read and the glimpse they provide into the\u00c2\u00a0Reagan\u00c2\u00a0administration is\u00c2\u00a0illuminating\u00c2\u00a0because he is writing for his own benefit and not that of posterity. \u00c2\u00a0A very good book that should be of interest to anybody who follows contemporary politics and wants to get to know the man behind so much rhetoric tossed\u00c2\u00a0around\u00c2\u00a0in the present.<\/p>\n