Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Disappointed!!
Review: To my disappointment, Mr. Morris has put together a disjointed, and dare I say boring account of a President deserving far greater treatment. I was willing to accept the idea of creating a fictional character as a vehicle around which portions of President Reagan's life could be told. However, I was not willing to accept the fact that this character takes such a central and time consuming role in the telling of the tale.I found myself skimming numerous portions of the book trying to filter out unecessary information. Mr. Morris' fictional character was not nearly as important to the telling of the story as Mr. Morris, the author, seemed to believe. I can only hope that in my lifetime a more acceptable "authorized" biography of President Reagan will be published.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointing
Review: Despite all the hubbub about this book, I broke down and got a copy at a used book store. I had hoped that this book would show Ronald Reagan in a true light, warts and all, good, bad, or indifferent. What I got was an unreadable mess. I could barely read it straight through, and found myself skipping over portions of it. I had hoped that an author of Mr. Morris' stature would have written a book on the same par as David McCulloch's "Truman." What I got was, basically, a self-indulgent piece of literature. The word "memoir" in the title would be a give-away to the reader that the author had some intimate knowledge and/or personal interaction with Mr. Reagan, but intead we got a fictional character. I hope another author would do Mr. Reagan justice and publish a definitive biography of him before too long. Love him or hate him, Mr. Reagan is an important figure in American politics and deserves a better treatment. Mr. Morris squandered what would have been a golden opportunity to do so.
Rating:
Summary: The most infuriating book I ever read.
Review: Although I had advance warning of what I was getting into, I purchased the book in spite of the generally poor reviews. I was unable to get beyond the first 50 pages. Morris' ego is simply too much to handle. Good or bad, I wanted to read about the subject matter of the book, not the author. I fully agree with many of the reviewers -- what a waste!!
Rating:
Summary: I had to put this book down...
Review: So who is Ronald Reagan? a brilliant, humble, discreet diplomat, or an actor all the way? I Could'nt get an answer this time!
Rating:
Summary: It should be titled, "Me and Dutch" - A Novel
Review: What was he thinking? Morris is clearly a good writer and could have chosen to write a genuine biography of Reagan or a fictionalized memoir. He is unable to do both successfully, however. The book fails for several reasons: 1) You can't tell what is fiction and what is fact. While you know his character is not real, many other characters appear with whom he interacts. Are they real? I can't tell. I find that disconcerting and annoying. Morris would say it doesn't matter. He's wrong. It matters when it pretends to be biography. You read a novel prepared to suspend disbelief. Not when you are reading non-fiction. 2) He continually pops up in the story for no reason. Many passages are devoted to the life of the fictional Edmund Morris. I do not find that these pages in any way contribute to a better understanding of Reagan - the stated reason he used this technique. It takes a monumental ego to fashion a biography about anyone and tell it from the perspective of an elaboratly fictionalized version of yourself. On top of this, he refuses to acknowledge that anyone could reasonably object to the approach he took. This is ego out of control. What shocks me is that there wasn't someone, an editor, for example, to set him straight and stop him from making this terrible blunder. It's unfortunate because he has the talent to write a great biography. This isn't it, however.
Rating: 
Summary: E. Morris can write!
Review: Mr. Morris, don't listen to the critics! You can write! Beautiful, cultured, evocative language, such as one is rarely treated to in these days of "in your face" shock reading! An amazing treatment, by an multi-faceted jewel of a writer. I also admire the courage it took for Morris to depart from the humdrum third person style of most biographies. Excellent! Well done!
Rating: 
Summary: A GOOD READ; NOT THE DEFINATIVE WORK I HAD HOPED FOR
Review: Once one gets through the initial confusion of fictional characters, and the early flash-back/flash-forward/fact/fiction narrative, this book evolves into an extremely engrossing read. Reagan is brought to life with a warmth that few of his critics would acknowledge. This is not a hatchet job on Ronald Reagan - despite the displeasure voiced by conservatives (you don't hear any liberals pointing to this book as "evidence" of Reagan's incompetence). There is much content lacking from this book. The material from 1975 to 1980 is extremely thin and this omission is a disappointment. The '76 and '80 campaigns were rich with the ebb and flow of the political dynamic, and that story alone could have easily covered an additional 100 or more pages of this book. Overall, an interesting work. Given the advance hype for this book I had hoped that this would be THE definitive book on Ronald Reagan; that book has yet to be written.
Rating:
Summary: Boring as hell!
Review: Edmund Morris, author is undoubtedly a windbag if this book is any indication. Actually he does say a few nice things about President Reagan when he is not saying something about himself. I find nothing redeeming about this fat book!
Rating: 
Summary: Strong on personality - weak on policy and the Presidency
Review: I cannot bring myself to condemn Morris fully. His book is enjoyable to read and contains a lot of personal information about RR's pre-presidency years that I didn't know. The problem is that Morris did not write the book he could and should have written - a comprehensive account of the Reagan presidency that he was allowed to observe first hand. Further, Morris has little interest in policy and none of economics. Two thirds of the book takes place outside the presidency, which is the reverse of most presidential bios. Further, the account during the presidency focuses on odd choices of topics. For example, the Geneva Summit and Bitburg are given extensive coverage. Reykjavik and the Berlin Wall speech are given comparably little, even though Morris himself acknowledges their vital importance. Morris also makes records some private moments that should not have been revealed, as they had nothing to do with RR's presidency. In the end though, that is what this book is about. If you're interested in RR the man, the book is helpful. If you are interested in the 1980s and the Reagan presidency, it is significantly weaker. Highly recommended is Martin Anderson's Revolution for readers interested in those aspects more than RR's personality.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating approach, captures the Man.
Review: This unusual approach to biography takes some effort on the part of the reader, but ultimately is worth it. The author should be congratulated for breaking out of the traditional biographical mold. Ronald Reagan comes to life in these pages, which don't gloss over his shortcomings but also don't understate his achievements and his unusual personal story. Hard to put down once you get into it!
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