Rating: 
Summary: a well written piece of history
Review: Being an account of Reagan's rise the book couldn't ignore the man he confronted to become Governor of California: the liberal Democratic Pat Brown searching a third term.
So here we have a breathtaking book where Dallek guides you chapter after chapter through the parallel paths leading the two politicians to their 1966 clash. The chapters dedicated to Brown are useful and interesting because they not only make you familiar with an outstanding figure like Brown but - telling all of his long and succesful political career - they make you acquainted with all the California matters that in the long run will shape Reagan's politic view and will decice in Reagan's favour the 1966 campaign.
Dallek refers lots of meaningful anecdotes and is able to make you understand the personality of all the characters involved in this story. This is a well written and excitingly told piece of history.
Rating: 
Summary: Strongly recommended
Review: Dallek has written an excellent book about a critical moment in contemporary political history. Well researched, nicely written. Not just about Reagan, as the title implies, but an engaging account of the campaign between Reagan and then Governor Pat Brown, a huge figure in California politics. This is a must read for students of US and California political history.
Rating:
Summary: the right man at the right moment
Review: I have one minor quibble with this book: its slightly misleading title. On the one hand, it concisely captures the book's thesis (that Ronald Reagan came at just the right time, capitalizing on political trends over which he had no control) while also cleverly playing on conservative-right. But on the other, I can't help thinking that it was so titled and subtitled in order to advertise its Reagan content and sell more books. For although this book is about Ronald Reagan and the rise of conservatism, it is equally about Pat Brown and the decline of liberalism.Nevertheless, this is a solid book. It isn't extraordinarily or imaginatively written, but it flows and reads very, very well, especially for an academic-type work. Dallek treats all sides, left and right, fairly and objectively, criticizing and praising both as necessary. The book takes us into the rapidly changing world of the mid-1960s, where things were tamer than 1968 but hints of what was to come were evident. Vietnam was only beginning to rise as a divisive issue, and in 1966, it divided the Democratic party and hurt Brown. The Free Speech Movement at Berkeley didn't reach the levels of chaos that would reign in later years, but it was enough to make Brown look like he didn't have control over the state university system. Race still seethed, with fair housing a major issue after 1963-64, and again, the left split over Brown's handling of it; but worse, the governor pushed a progressive civil rights agenda on a state that wasn't quite ready for it, and the backlash was intense. Race riots broke out in Los Angeles in the summer of 1965, adding to the issues of race and crime. All trends seemed to go against Brown. Events suggested that Brown was an ineffective leader. The left fragmented. And the public at large rejected Brown's liberalism. Enter Ronald Reagan, whose skills Dallek does not dismiss, to take advantage of these trends. He ran a strong campaign that pushed law-and-order issues (united under the banners of morality and the "Creative Society"), made fewer mistakes than his opponent, and proved to have far more substance and intelligence than detractors had hoped. Still, argues Dallek, it was largely the collapse of liberalism and the rush of events that propelled Reagan. Victory was his, and the groundwork laid for what was to come fourteen years later. A wonderfully informative book, this functions extremely well when read in tandem with Rick Perlstein's Before the Storm. (I did find one error. On page 108, William Scranton is parenthetically referred to as "Senator," whereas he was actually governor of Pennsylvania. A small mistake, no doubt overlooked in proofreading.)
Rating:
Summary: the right man at the right moment
Review: I have one minor quibble with this book: its slightly misleading title. On the one hand, it concisely captures the book's thesis (that Ronald Reagan came at just the right time, capitalizing on political trends over which he had no control) while also cleverly playing on conservative-right. But on the other, I can't help thinking that it was so titled and subtitled in order to advertise its Reagan content and sell more books. For although this book is about Ronald Reagan and the rise of conservatism, it is equally about Pat Brown and the decline of liberalism. Nevertheless, this is a solid book. It isn't extraordinarily or imaginatively written, but it flows and reads very, very well, especially for an academic-type work. Dallek treats all sides, left and right, fairly and objectively, criticizing and praising both as necessary. The book takes us into the rapidly changing world of the mid-1960s, where things were tamer than 1968 but hints of what was to come were evident. Vietnam was only beginning to rise as a divisive issue, and in 1966, it divided the Democratic party and hurt Brown. The Free Speech Movement at Berkeley didn't reach the levels of chaos that would reign in later years, but it was enough to make Brown look like he didn't have control over the state university system. Race still seethed, with fair housing a major issue after 1963-64, and again, the left split over Brown's handling of it; but worse, the governor pushed a progressive civil rights agenda on a state that wasn't quite ready for it, and the backlash was intense. Race riots broke out in Los Angeles in the summer of 1965, adding to the issues of race and crime. All trends seemed to go against Brown. Events suggested that Brown was an ineffective leader. The left fragmented. And the public at large rejected Brown's liberalism. Enter Ronald Reagan, whose skills Dallek does not dismiss, to take advantage of these trends. He ran a strong campaign that pushed law-and-order issues (united under the banners of morality and the "Creative Society"), made fewer mistakes than his opponent, and proved to have far more substance and intelligence than detractors had hoped. Still, argues Dallek, it was largely the collapse of liberalism and the rush of events that propelled Reagan. Victory was his, and the groundwork laid for what was to come fourteen years later. A wonderfully informative book, this functions extremely well when read in tandem with Rick Perlstein's Before the Storm. (I did find one error. On page 108, William Scranton is parenthetically referred to as "Senator," whereas he was actually governor of Pennsylvania. A small mistake, no doubt overlooked in proofreading.)
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Account of Post-War Liberalism's Demise
Review: In November 1964, Barry Goldwater's electoral debacle seemed to sound the death knell for American conservatism. However, that same year, the seeds of liberalism's demise were being planted in the nation's (soon to be) most populous state. Author Matthew Dalleck provides a brilliant, even-handed account of the decline of post-War liberalism, symbolized by Ronald Reagan's one-million-vote trouncing of incumbent Edmund "Pat" Brown in the California Governor's race of 1966. Few U.S. politicians better embodied the ideals and aspirations of post-War liberalism than Brown, the liberal icon who had roundly defeated Richard Nixon in 1962 and William Knowland, another conservative of national stature, in 1958. But as the social unrest of the Sixties began to take hold, Brown would come to represent not only the virtues of liberalism, but its failures and shortcomings as well. Mr. Dalleck recounts how Ronald Reagan and a coterie of Calilfornia conservatives exploited liberalism's deficiencies to vanquish Gov. Brown (who would remain forever embittered by the experience), re-energize the conservative movement nationally and begin the process that would culminate with Reagan's two terms as President in the Eighties. Despite its far-reaching magnitude, relatively little has been written about the California Gubernatorial election of 1966, making Dalleck's new book essential reading for all students of modern U.S. history.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Matthew Dallek must have put in thousands of hours on research for this wonderful historical account of President Reagan's first race in 1966 for Governor of California. Dallek shows how Reagan's conservatism unseated a 2-term incumbent governor bent on spreading socialist values by emphasizing a few all-important facts. More importantly, this election proved that the fate of Goldwater was not the same fate that awaited ALL conservatives. This is a scholarly and superb look at an election that American conservatives still model today. Excellent read!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Matthew Dallek must have put in thousands of hours on research for this wonderful historical account of President Reagan's first race in 1966 for Governor of California. Dallek shows how Reagan's conservatism unseated a 2-term incumbent governor bent on spreading socialist values by emphasizing a few all-important facts. More importantly, this election proved that the fate of Goldwater was not the same fate that awaited ALL conservatives. This is a scholarly and superb look at an election that American conservatives still model today. Excellent read!
Rating:
Summary: I'd give it a sixth star if I could
Review: Matthew Dallek's The Right Moment was a highly enjoyable, well-written and insightful view of the turmoil in California politics in the mid-60s. Dallek's effort is a great work of historical scholarship, synthesizing different topics like the John Birch movement, the student uprisings at Berkeley, the Watts riots and the internal rifts in the Democratic Party into a coherent and compelling narrative of "what went wrong" with 1960's liberalism. The Right Moment also gives us a taste of what is to come with the rise of Ronald Reagan, and as such, it builds an important bridge between two very different eras, the 1960s and the 1980s. The only thing that can be said against the book is that the cover dramatically oversells the Reagan aspect -- at least two thirds of the book deals with Pat Brown and his struggle with liberalism's internal demons. Nonetheless, it is a joy to read, and even contains gems on Reagan you won't find anywhere else.
Rating: 
Summary: An Objective History of the Gipper's First Big Game
Review: Much is made of our current leaders being products of the turbulent 1960s, but author Matthew Dallek reminds us, in this very evenhanded account, that Ronald Reagan's political fortune was due largely to that same turmoil. Dallek makes a good point that the impact of Reagan's 1966 win of the California governorship has been ignored by current journalists and historians. Today, the 60s counterculture is romanticized by the baby-boomer media, like Stonewall Jackson is lionized by the Daughters of the Confederacy. But in the 1960s, civil unrest wasn't too fashionable. People were frightened. Enter Ronald Reagan. Reagan was considered a lightweight by Democrats and liberal Republicans, and on top of that, he spoke in the same right-wing tone that supposedly cost Barry Goldwater the 1964 Presidential Election. A few conservative businessmen thought differently. They liked the speech Reagan gave in the last days of the Goldwater campaign. They thought that Reagan was the right mix of personality, intelligence and political persuasion, and could pull a big upset in the 1966 election versus the 2-term Governor Edmund "Pat" Brown. We all know that Reagan pulled that upset, but unlike the other histories, Mr. Dallek shows us how he pulled it off. He also provides a look into the Brown campaign, and the many misfortunes Brown suffered in the two years prior to his defeat. Nothing could go right for the seasoned Brown, while nothing went wrong for the neophyte Reagan. It would seem that destiny produced Ronald Reagan. In this book, you'll see how Reagan and destiny took care of Edmund "Pat" Brown.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Information
Review: The Right Moment details the governor's race in 1966 with Pat Brown (the incumbent) against a political newcomer, one Ronald Reagan. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for one major fact: It wasn't all about Reagan.
Writing books about Reagan is a cottage industry, and most of them, while not bad, rarely cover new territory. ("God and Reagan" by Paul Kengor being one of the few recent exceptions.) I started this book expecting it to be another cheerleading Reagan-was-great gloss-over.
Thankfully, it's anything but. While it does detail Reagan's ascendancy in the conservative movement (and, not incidentally, his discarding of his liberal past) and his subsequent race for the governorship, it is more about California politics in general and the disintegration of Pat Brown's stewardship.
It has what every election book has: the personality profiles of the political bosses, the attempts of primary challengers to knock out the inevitable winner, the gaffes and "defining" moments that seem ridiculously banal thirty years hence; and the culminating victory.
There are only two disappointments. One is there is very little detailing the mixing of Hollywood and California politics. Many believe that Reagan was the first, and he was the most important. However, George Murphy ("a song-and-dance man") became a hard-right senator before Reagan even "converted" to politics, and he gets scant mention. And Helen Gahagan is ignored as well. This isn't a book about Hollywood and politics, but it was an important enough phenomenon it might have been given a bit more consideration.
The other miss is the "election roundup" common in books of this type; I like them. I would have been interested to know where in California he had pulled his support--both geographically and demographically. There's a little bit at the end but not much.
Thankfully, one thing that is left out is the expected "and this was the start of something big" nonsense. While true, it could degenerate into a love feast with the same platitudes you read in other Reagan books. There is no such section in this book, which increases its quality.
People might dismiss this book as a Reagan book, and in reality it's not. It is an excellent portal into a small fraction of a very influential movement.
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