The authors seem to believe that Reagan's hollywood training and simpleminded jingoism represent some real achievement and indicate strong character. His superficial and vacuous character, practical disengagement, and dimwitted policies were, to the authors, astonishing revelations to the American people after the Iran-Contra scandal became known. This owes more to the right-wing efforts over the past thirty years to establish a cult of personality around Ronald Reagan than to the actual reality. ( )

2174 Landslide: The Unmaking of the President 1984-1988, by Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus (read 20 Dec 1988) The authors of this book on the Reagan years from 1984 to 1988 are journalists. The book is rather disorganized in its early part, but its account of the Iran-Contra story is coherent and tells the story well. I followed the hearings on Iran-Contra closely, but this book put it into coherent form for me. The book confirms what I have always known: Reagan is a poor excuse for a president. He has been very lucky. as the book says: "he was both amiable and friendless, ill-informed and incurious, trusting and careless, stubborn and passive..." I enjoyed the book. ( )