Rating: 
Summary: It Started Here
Review: This account of Ronald Reagan's first electoral triumph is rather remarkable for its evenhanded approach to Reagan and his opponent in the 1966 California gubernatorial election, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. Reagan is a polarizing figure for most authors --- from the Leftist chorus that maintains the untenable assertion that he was an "amiable dunce" who got lucky, to those who have penned recent volumes that are more like hagiographies than serious pieces of non-fiction. Titles like Dinesh D'Souza's "Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became and Extraordinary Leader" and Peggy Noonan's "When Character was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan" speak for themselves.Dallek does a superb job of profiling lesser-known political characters like Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty and Reagan's "Kitchen Cabinet." His narrative of Watts and Berkeley is succinct and dispassionate, two characteristics that defy the usual cant readers can expect from accounts of the 1960's tumult. The introduction and the epilogue seem hurried; they do not adequately address Reagan's signature impact on the conservative movement or the larger civic debate. "The Right Moment" stands alongside the works of Lou Cannon in the Reagan literature in terms of its readability, use of primary sources, and latent objectivity.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book About Reagan, Bit Too Much About Pat Brown
Review: You can read any number of books about Reagan's Presidency, his life, or his wit, but what makes this book great is that it focuses on his first run for office in 1966. The book does not solely turn it's attention on Reagan. It examines the time of civil unrest in California (student uprisings, Watts riots) at the time and how Pat Brown could not understand nor could he control what was happening. The book is interesting because it flips between both Reagan and Brown's sides of the story, their campaigns and the time and events that they lived in at the time. It really captures the mood and feel of 1966 California. It really explains why Reagan won and Brown, while fairly popular during his two terms and after defeating Richard Nixon, lost to a political novice while the liberal ideal's fell to the coming conservative movement.
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