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Dutch : A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
by Edmund Morris
Product Group: Book
ISBN: B000065V2W
Hardcover: 874 pages
SKU: 41324
Condition: Collectable Like New
Comments: THE HARDCOVER BOOK! RANDOM HOUSE, 1999.THE UNABRIDGED 1ST EDITION. 1ST PRINT. WITH GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS! HARDCOVER W/GILT LETTERING, DUST COVER AND PAGES ARE BRAND NEW! SHIPS IMMEDIATELY W/FREE TRACKING. Air Mail.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
"Poor dear. There's nothing between his ears.". So Margaret Thatcher described Ronald Reagan. But the Iron Lady, when in the "poor dear's" presence, giggled like a schoolgirl. "One could not talk to him for more than a few minutes without being aware of the ordinariness of his mind," says Helmut Schmidt. And Mikhail Gorbachev, deconstructor of communism, is now despised by his people, while the most popular new boys' name in the former USSR is Ronald. Indisputably Ronald Reagan the everyday person was opaque, pedestrian, ignorant, a hollow man now he is incapacitated by Alzheimers. Yet, as President, Governor, Actor, Announcer, and Lifeguard Ronald Reagan became a creature of the American folk imagination with the power to tap into vast resources of nostalgia in the American people. He is a myth; the sum total of all American fantasies. It is this Reagan that is the subject of this text.
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Amazon.com Review
In what must surely be one of the most unusual and critically scrutinized biographies ever written, Edmund Morris has created a difficult but fascinating chronicle nearly as enigmatic as his book's inscrutable subject. Read by the author himself, this audio version comes replete with a special acknowledgment of the controversial nature of the book and an especially poignant closing passage addressing Reagan's senescent slide into dementia. In the explanatory preface Morris describes the rationale behind his unconventional effort: "When the biographer sits talking with the still living subject, as I did so often with President Reagan ... the story of his journey becomes, in effect, an autobiography, that interrelates with the biography he's writing. In other words, this is the true story of a real person told by an imaginary narrator who eventually mutates into myself." A curious and debatable strategy. However, using this unprecedented approach, Morris has created an unarguably intimate, highly detailed, and powerfully moving memoir which reaches a level of emotional resonance rarely achieved in more traditional biographies. (Running time: 9 hours, 6 cassettes) --George Laney
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Customer Reviews
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Difficult read
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-12-27
VERY difficult to read this book. Author spent more time showing off his vocabulary than telling a story. Could not get past the first 4 chapters.
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Commander in Chief at a Distance
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-11-02
Edmund Morris brought his own personal experiences to this biography of Former President Ronald Reagan. While these same touches connected you to the writer, it did little to attach you to the subject of the book. What was worse was that Morris himself was often shunted aside by the President and even burned by him because of a protest involving the author's son. Morris takes these cold shoulders in stride but keeps the Commander in Chief at a distance. The book itself is powerfully descriptive and insightful but this is hardly how a biography should be written. I reccommend it for the excellent level of writing if not for the subject matter.
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Morris Misses the Mark
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-04-26
After reading the book it is obvious that Morris tries to advance the mantra that the liberals pushed on everyone during Reagans Presidency. Mainly that Reagan was a doddering old fool, with no substance, absent minded and full of bromides and platitudes. Page after page reeks of Morris' disdain and elitist attitude toward Reagan. What Morris gives us is a corny old actor who approaches his Presidency much like one of Reagans B movies, with lots of glitter and no substance. The contradiction, in my mind, is how did this affable dunce, (according to Morris), stand up to, and defeat Communism, reduce taxes, build up our military, beat back the malaise of the Carter years, among many other accomplishments? If you want to read a much better accounting of Reagan and his Presidency, read D'Souza's book. With all the access Morris had to this great man, his book woefully misses the mark!
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Extremely Poor Bio
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-04-07
I was extremely disappointed with this book. I expected to read a candid bio of Ronald Reagan the man, including the good and the bad. Instead, I read a book that contained fictional characters inserted throughout, leaving the impression the author was attempting to mount a disingenuous one-sided piece about his personal opinions of the man. If this was a fiction piece, such as the "North and South" series or the childhood "We Were There" series, then there might be some accolades to share. But to be published and promoted as a bio, this book is sorely lacking. It is my opinion the author wasted an incredible opportunity.
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This is an incredibly awful book from a great writer
Rating (1)
Date: 2007-11-12
I'm not sure what happened here but Morris ruined his reputation as a great historian by writing one of the most bizzare books ever written. It is the book equivilant of "Plan Nine From Outer Space." It is done to one cent on the used market but not sure it is a bargin, even at that price
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