Ronald Reagan: The Politics of Symbolism : With a New Preface

Rating:
Summary: Good, but a little dated
Review: Robert Dallek is an excellent historian, as seen in his work on FDR's foreign policy and his masterful accounts of LBJ. This book was an attempt to gauge Reagan's presidency in the midst of it. It has some wonderful insight on Reagan's use (and abuse) of political symbolism, but it needs to be updated with more than a new preface to stay fresh.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre, with factual errors
Review: The careful reader will recognize enough factual errors in this book to be made uncomfortable with its scholarship and research.

Rating:
Summary: The rocommendation to the Japanese
Review: This book is good, but a little difficult for me.

Before I had read this book,I hadn't understood Ronald Reagan's regency much. I can understand why he is still popular among not only American but also people all over the world. I am assured that he is one of American heroes. He is sincere, hearty, humorous, and powerful.

He faced a tangle of economic problems. The inflation, interest rates, and the projected federal deficit stood at nearly record highs, and unemployment was 7.4 percent. In this situation, he said,'government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.' How great that was! He worked out a plan for economic recovery, and promised lower taxes, business expansion, more jobs, less inflation, lower interest rates, smaller deficits, and greater military strength. He stuck to the plan and succeeded.

Now Japan has a big economic problems. Most of Japanese can't see Japan's future and their one. Reagan worked out the plan and kept to it not for government's benefit but for the national concerns. He certainly executed what he had said. I want Japan to follow his example.

I appreciate this work. I will recommend Japanese to read this.