Ronald Reagan: A Life in Pictures

Rating:
Summary: Good Despite All Efforts to the Contrary
Review: OK - I'll admit that I bought something from the Time/Life telemarketers. I have since been punished by receiving their relentless phone calls.

My copy of "A Life in Pictures" arrived along with three PBS DVD's, and it was a while before I got around to flipping through its pages.

It wasn't until this week that I got around to reading it. The last picture in the book was quite moving now that Reagan has exited the stage at last.

The photos are all worthwhile - though many of them can be found elsewhere. The young Reagan transitioning to the old Reagan presents a remarkable image.

Still, it must be pointed out that anyone selecting Dan Rather to write an introduction to a book about Reagan must have their motive questioned, at the very least. Having Rather opinine about Reagan is like having Rush Limbaugh write the introduction to a book about Bill Clinton.

Rather tries his hardest to say decent things about Reagan while condemning everything he stood for, and is marginally successful. So are the editors, whose captions to the photos only occassionaly break forth in utter disdain. Again - recognizing Reagan's iconographic standing, they are hesitant to resort to outright calumny. Still, they don't miss a chance to characterize his followers as "rabid," emphasize his emotional distance as a father, or give more than equal time to his detractors.

Finally, there's some typical Time/Life nonsense in the book, such as the "Other Presidents Who Survived Assassination Attempts" and "Other Prominent First Ladies" sections.

Still, one can always ignore the captions and text, and come away with a nice collection of images of the Gipper.

Rating:
Summary: Good Despite All Efforts to the Contrary
Review: OK - I'll admit that I bought something from the Time/Life telemarketers. I have since been punished by receiving their relentless phone calls.

My copy of "A Life in Pictures" arrived along with three PBS DVD's, and it was a while before I got around to flipping through its pages.

It wasn't until this week that I got around to reading it. The last picture in the book was quite moving now that Reagan has exited the stage at last.

The photos are all worthwhile - though many of them can be found elsewhere. The young Reagan transitioning to the old Reagan presents a remarkable image.

Still, it must be pointed out that anyone selecting Dan Rather to write an introduction to a book about Reagan must have their motive questioned, at the very least. Having Rather opinine about Reagan is like having Rush Limbaugh write the introduction to a book about Bill Clinton.

Rather tries his hardest to say decent things about Reagan while condemning everything he stood for, and is marginally successful. So are the editors, whose captions to the photos only occassionaly break forth in utter disdain. Again - recognizing Reagan's iconographic standing, they are hesitant to resort to outright calumny. Still, they don't miss a chance to characterize his followers as "rabid," emphasize his emotional distance as a father, or give more than equal time to his detractors.

Finally, there's some typical Time/Life nonsense in the book, such as the "Other Presidents Who Survived Assassination Attempts" and "Other Prominent First Ladies" sections.

Still, one can always ignore the captions and text, and come away with a nice collection of images of the Gipper.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but wish it were "all Reagan"
Review: This is a fairly nice book with good quality photos of Reagan from birth to the end. I enjoyed parts of it, but there are some aggravations. There are included sections that are just outright annoying. Why on earth does there need to be a section about first ladies and for goodness sake why is there a picture of Hillary Clinton ANYWHERE in this book? If this is a book about Ronald Reagan there shouldn't be these stupid little "historical" asides. One section is pictures of other presidents that played sports. Please. I don't need this. It reminds me of my children's preachy take home school magazines. Also a forward by Dan Rather. A more innapropriate person to write a forward about Reagan I would have a hard time finding. Why don't we just get Michael Moore's input while we're at it.

I got this as a keepsake for my children since Reagan dying was a huge world event during their childhood. It has a nice sturdy cover for softback and it has a decent collection of pictures for them to look at. But to truly be perfect it would need to omit the liberal overtones and the stupid pictures that are irrelevent to the life of Reagan. A huge missing gap of this book is lack of pictures of the funeral. It was a touching and pictoral event that should be included in this book.

Buy it to complement other volumes perhaps. I think overall it could have been better.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but wish it were "all Reagan"
Review: This is a fairly nice book with good quality photos of Reagan from birth to the end. I enjoyed parts of it, but there are some aggravations. There are included sections that are just outright annoying. Why on earth does there need to be a section about first ladies and for goodness sake why is there a picture of Hillary Clinton ANYWHERE in this book? If this is a book about Ronald Reagan there shouldn't be these stupid little "historical" asides. One section is pictures of other presidents that played sports. Please. I don't need this. It reminds me of my children's preachy take home school magazines. Also a forward by Dan Rather. A more innapropriate person to write a forward about Reagan I would have a hard time finding. Why don't we just get Michael Moore's input while we're at it.

I got this as a keepsake for my children since Reagan dying was a huge world event during their childhood. It has a nice sturdy cover for softback and it has a decent collection of pictures for them to look at. But to truly be perfect it would need to omit the liberal overtones and the stupid pictures that are irrelevent to the life of Reagan. A huge missing gap of this book is lack of pictures of the funeral. It was a touching and pictoral event that should be included in this book.

Buy it to complement other volumes perhaps. I think overall it could have been better.

Rating:
Summary: Ronald Reagan: A Life in Pictures
Review: What a beautiful book documenting the life of arguably one of the most famous and successful Presidents in our nations history. President Reagan saved our country from socialist and communist forces from within and abroad and helped America become the leader of the free world, a position it still enjoys today, 20 years after his first inauguration. Here's to a Ronald Reagan, a TRUE American hero!