Rating: 
Summary: A Look "Behind the Curtain"
Review: "Specificity is the soul of credibility," Noonan tells us and goes on to earn her credibility through the detailed descriptions presented in this masterful slice of American history. The quote actually refers to the editing of a canned stump speech edited slighted for various locations so that local politicians and locations distinguish one place from another on the tour.Noonan allows readers to capture the flavor of the internal fighting among the powers that be in a presidential administration. Nearly everyone can identify with the "experts" being totally wrong in their advice. She discusses several incidences where she was second-guessed by people trying to "help her" improve her speeches and shows how the ones that were unedited were the best received. Virtually anyone in communication can identify with that sort of experience at some level. There's an element of mystery included. She talks about Reagan giving her a joke, mentioning that someday she could use it when she did other things. When he hung up the phone she says, "he knows something I don't know. He knows I'm going to write about these days." She did and the result tells a lot about human nature, politics, and dysfunctional systems. In spite of the dysfunctions, worthwhile accomplishments were made.
Rating:
Summary: A Look "Behind the Curtain"
Review: "Specificity is the soul of credibility," Noonan tells us and goes on to earn her credibility through the detailed descriptions presented in this masterful slice of American history. The quote actually refers to the editing of a canned stump speech edited slighted for various locations so that local politicians and locations distinguish one place from another on the tour. Noonan allows readers to capture the flavor of the internal fighting among the powers that be in a presidential administration. Nearly everyone can identify with the "experts" being totally wrong in their advice. She discusses several incidences where she was second-guessed by people trying to "help her" improve her speeches and shows how the ones that were unedited were the best received. Virtually anyone in communication can identify with that sort of experience at some level. There's an element of mystery included. She talks about Reagan giving her a joke, mentioning that someday she could use it when she did other things. When he hung up the phone she says, "he knows something I don't know. He knows I'm going to write about these days." She did and the result tells a lot about human nature, politics, and dysfunctional systems. In spite of the dysfunctions, worthwhile accomplishments were made.
Rating: 
Summary: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A REPUBLICAN TO LIKE IT....
Review: ...and indeed I am certainly NOT one by any stretch of the imagination. Noonan has written one great book about the presidency, life in the White House, speech writing, and the political process and how it interacts with the media. The portions of the book on how she wrote speeches for Reagan and Bush and how they got edited in the staffing process are particularly well-written, insightful, and at times downright funny. Noonan remains loyal to Reagan but she is not so blindered that she fails to note some of the short comings of his hands-off style. Her policy views are sometimes simplistic (you're left wondering if she thinks the world can be governed from what you learn in a Capra movie) but this is after all a memoir and she does a very good job of taking you on her trip. Well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written and engaging, but other than that...
Review: ...other than that, this book is absolute drivel. From the moment we are assured that our part in the Vietnam War was 'basically good' right through to the end, Noonan seems to prefer disregarding history or any serious examination of the left. This book is a good portrait of how a conservative's mind works (if you're interested in such a thing, which you probably shouldn't be)
Rating:
Summary: Stylish, informative and powerful.
Review: As a political student of Reagan's time in office, this book is one of the two accounts of that era which hooked me. Noonan, as a former Democrat, gives a wonderfully readable and absorbing account of a period of time vital to any understanding of modern American politics. It is fair to say that she glosses over the flaws in the White House - the staff feuds, the debacle of the Iran-contra scandal. But in doing so she is merely giving an impression of the presidency from an ideological perspective, rather than a political standpoint. It may not be a political textbook, but it is an eloquent and enthralling autobiography.
Rating:
Summary: Never more timely
Review: As we move into another policitcal campaign season of lies, spin, and deliberately mis-leading half truths, this remarkable book should be not just read, but studied by every would-be voter. It is 10 years old, but as on target today as when it was written. It gives a "basement" view of the inner-workings of our government unlike any you will read elsewhere, mixing often off-the-wall humor with a thoughtful and serious view of important issues. Noonan's deft put-downs of pretentious "staff" who may be effective politicians but are obviously amateur writers and communicators are a delight. As a former speechwriter in the corporate world (and a one-time political writer) I found it disheartening to read additional evidence of how the spinmeisters of the world have taken communication back to Alice in Wonderland level. Noonan is a gem, and if nothing else is learned from the book, it should be this: Americans need to know they are not just electing a President, they are electing his "staff". This book should be in the library of every writer, and used as a frequent tool and reminder.
Rating:
Summary: Noonan an Anti-Dote to Hillary, Oprah, The View, Fonda
Review: By listening to Media Gods you would never know that there are women who are conservative and can read and write and actually believed in Ronald Reagan.
Well, there goes all the invitations to fancy Manhattan parties. No more power-lunching with the hairy-armpit wing of feminism.
Rather than get pure policy and political argument, you get the perspective of a detached, amused observer in the middle of the White House world.
Noonan creates an image of what it would be like to run into Reagan, shake his hand, and say a few words. There are memorable images of Reagan's staff.
But Noonan gets beyond sensory data and provides historically important information: some on Reagan's staff and the administration tried to steer Reagan's speeches away from his convictions.
The myth is that Reagan was managed, handled, and marketed super-cynically. The truth is, through his speechmaking and Noonan's assistance, he stayed true to his principles.
Rating:
Summary: Introductory, but no more.
Review: For teenagers who know nothing of the Reagan years, this is a good introductory account from a second-tier Republican. For those of us who lived through them, it is a banal rehash on the level of the prose one finds in _Newsweek_ or _Time_. The insights are few, too. This reader's view is that the area in which Miss Noonan was involved, the drafting of speeches for the president, is at once trivial and overrated in importance, so I lament that this book will be many people's introduction to Reaganite (as distinguished from Reagoon or Reaganinnie) political thinking and activity; still, it's better than nothing.
Rating:
Summary: You'll get a real fee for life at the White House
Review: Heard the taped version of WHAT I SAW AT THE REVOLUTION,
written and read by Peggy Noonan . . . she was a special assistant to the president during the height of the Reagan era. Noonan worked with him, and then vice-president Bush, on
some of their most famous and memorable speeches . . . she
eventually became a speechwriter for George Bush during his
first presidential campaign, helping to dispel his "wimpy" image
by coining such eloquent phrases as "a thousand points
of light" and "a kinder, gentler nation." I got a real feel for the trials and tribulations of what it is
like working in the White House and would strongly recommend
this book to anybody wanting to learn more what such a
life entails. Also, I think I'll always remember how Reagan wanted
his speeches to come across . . . he wanted them
to ALWAYS emphasize positive words, so rather
than say, "I'll never forget," he used, "I'll always
remember" . . . it might sound like a small thing;
however, the result was often quite the opposite.
Rating:
Summary: What I Now See at the Revolution
Review: I lived through the bulk of the Reagan revolution, having been born in 1982. Obviously, though, I hardly remember it. Bush is the first president I can begin to remember, and only during Clinton's second term did I fully open my eyes to the political world. What Peggy Noonan offers here is a look into the past that even few then-spectators would recognize. The inner-working of the Reagan administration are here partially revealed, and what is revealed is highly interesting. Furthermore, Ms. Noonan has shed light on some of the ways *every* White House *must* work. And yet Ms. Noonan doesn't stop with a mere description: she provides an eye-opening and well-written description of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during the 80's. This book also opens the shades on the beginnings of the now-burgeoning neo/social conservative movement in the United States. Rarely can you find so much in so few pages. I highly recommend this book.
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