Dutch : A Memoir of Ronald Reagan

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Summary: Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
Review: I just finished reading DUTCH and found it interesting and informative. I have never been a Reagan supporter, but after reading this book I have come to appreciate him as a man and as a president. Apparently many Republicans have criticized Morris for putting Reagan in an unfavorable light. This reaction perplexes me because, all in all, I believe Morris gave a fair, honest, and generally positive account of Reagan's life and presidency.

Of course, the first few chapters were confusing because of the author's biographical style. But once I got the hang of it, his approach proved readable, believable, and entertaining.

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Summary: The Imaginary Life of Edmund Morris¿
Review: After more than 10 years, Edmund Morris delivers a book ofdeceptive fiction. Nowhere are there clues to determine what isfactual and what is not. Most of the 700 pages are devoted to thedevelopment of fictional characters. When Morris writes of the time that he actually did have access to Reagan, he provides little factual detail, and he continues to insert fabricated dialog and events without providing notification to the reader. Portions of the story build and are never resolved, and upon reading the last third of this book the reader is rewarded with a hastily assembled collection of notes and transcriptions intermingled with more undeterminable fiction.

Typographical errors such as "hinself" are annoying, as is the writer's habit to drift into French sentences throughout the book. As if this is not bothersome enough, Morris attempts to prove his intellectualism by finding the most obscure words possible in his thesaurus and scattering them about each page. This book should be sold with a French language dictionary, as well as an English dictionary.

Morris describes Reagan's father passing out drunk in a "Cruciform" position, and later dying in a "Cruciform" pose. Inventions such as this are littered throughout the beginning of the book in an attempt to somehow illustrate a perverse parallel between Reagan's Christian faith and possible occurrences during his life.

Morris did not understand why he was not permitted to "live" alongside Reagan 24 hours a day, and his contempt for the Reagan administration due to his lack of access is manifest in his malicious and paltry fabrications.

Morris admits to waiting for Reagan to die before releasing his story, however I suppose that Reagan's current condition did suffice. One can only speculate as to why Edmund Morris would not have wanted to face Mr. Reagan with this, the product of an unprecedented opportunity.

A frustrated intellectual who admits to a life of failure (or did that pertain to the character...), Edmund Morris attempts to prove himself through this insolent invention of delusional nonsense. END

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Summary: Very Disappointed
Review: When I purchased this book I could not wait to start reading it. Unfortunately after 50 pages I became disgusted because the author talked more of himself than of the President. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

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Summary: The definitive bography of Ronald Reagan
Review: If you wish to understand Ronald Reagan you will not find a better book than "Dutch." This is not a history of his presidential administration or a critique of conservativism. It is about "Dutch" - the man. There is very little of Mr. Morris's complimantary charcater. And more importantly, he provides the reader with a clear barricade between fact and fiction. Of course, I believe the book would have been better off without this imaginary character. All it did was add fodder for his critics, many of them Republicans. I'll never understand this because the book is very complimantary of Reagan. The prose is outstanding, although there is less "biographical insight" than I would have expected. Mr. Morris completely leaves out the years from 1976 to 1980 for no reason, which hurts. The book, of course, has flaws. But Mr. Morris provides a book that is worthy of his many literary honors.

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Summary: Dutch: The Memoirs of Ronald Reagan
Review: I found this book a difficult read. However I did enjoy it. It seemed to me that Mr Morris wrote this for PHD's and Political Science majors. I haven't had to use a dictionary in a long time, but did with this one. All in all it was well written, just could have been easier.

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Summary: unreadable
Review: I looked forward to this book as I knew the author had extensive access to the President. I requested this book for Christmas! Unhappily when I started to read it I discovered the writter was much more interested in himself than his subject. If you are interested in the life of Mr Morris than I suggest you purchase this book. If you thought you might get some insight into Mr.Reagan you might be disapointed.

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Summary: Morris admits to a life of failure - one indisputable fact.
Review: After more than 10 years, Edmund Morris delivers a book ofdeceptive fiction. Nowhere are there clues to determine what isfactual and what is not. Most of the 700 pages are devoted to the development of fictional characters. When Morris writes of the time when he actually did have access to Reagan, he provides little factual detail, and he continues to insert fabricated dialog and events without providing notification to the reader. Portions of the story build and are never resolved, and upon reading the last third of this book the reader is rewarded with a hastily assembled collection of notes and transcriptions intermingled with more undeterminable fiction.

Typographical errors such as "hinself" are annoying, as is the writer's habit to drift into French sentences throughout the book. As if this is not bothersome enough, Morris attempts to prove his intellectualism by finding the most obscure words possible in his thesaurus and scattering them about each page. This book should be sold with a French language dictionary, as well as an English dictionary.

Morris describes Reagan's father passing out drunk in a "Cruciform" position, and later dieing in a "Cruciform" pose. Inventions such as this are littered throughout the beginning of the book in an attempt to somehow illustrate a perverse parallel between Reagan's Christian faith and possible occurrences during his life. Heaven and hell both censored with dashes, however the word f--k used more times then necessary, and spelled out completely - mostly in Morris's invented passages regarding Reagan's sex life.

Morris did not understand why he was not permitted to "live" alongside Reagan 24 hours a day, and his contempt for the Reagan administration due to his lack of access is manifest in his malicious and paltry fabrications.

Morris admits to waiting for Reagan to die before releasing his story, however I suppose that Reagan's current condition did suffice. One can only speculate as to why Edmund Morris would not have wanted to face Mr. Reagan with this, the product of an unprecedented opportunity.

A frustrated intellectual who admits to a life of failure, Edmund Morris attempts to prove himself through this insolent invention of delusional nonsense.

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Summary: An unusual but motivating memoir of the life of Ronal Reagan
Review: It took me a while to overcome the fiction inserted by the author. I wish he had found a way to tell the story without it. Nevertheless, the biography chronicles the life of a contemporary man and gives us the insight of an author who had direct access, at a high level, to a sitting president and his staff.

Surely, from this account, one can be inspired, as I was, of the significance of Ronald Reagan's great vision for America and her unique moral position in the world. I found myself inspired and remembered how unlikely it seemed in the late 70,s that anyone as conservative as Ronald Reagan could ever reach the Presdidency. I am glad he did and I believe the author in his uncoventional way portrayed Reagan as a great and unique leader who is credited for standing up to too much government in the US and totalitarianism in the World.

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Summary: Pathetic as History....Poor as Biography!
Review: Morris' literary technique is particularly maddening in the first half of the book (the years when Morris wasn't around and pretends he and other fictional characters were). Much of the information and characterization he intends to convey through this literary device could have been conveyed through the more traditional biographical narrative. In other areas his style is choppy and many ideas are left undeveloped. Events are often left hanging with no conclusion or evaluation. One would expect much better from a historian....Morris is really a disappointment. There is virtually no mention of Reagan's time as governor in California or his network of friends in high places from his California past. The coverage of Reagan's management (or lack of) and infighting within his presidential administration is almost non-existent. There are plenty of memoirs out there from people who worked with Reagan in Washington and Morris has no excuse for this lack of detail. For much keener insights, one should go to works by George Shultz or Frances Fitgerald's "Way Out There in the Blue."

The strength of the book is the portrayal of some of Reagan's personality quirks during the presidential years, the period when Morris was present to witness many of the president's actions and his interactions with those around him. A great deal of first hand information is presented that presents a rather frightening picture at times. Mr. Morris portrays Ronald Reagan with serious flaws, but in the end, admires him...although he has trouble convincing the reader exactly why.

I cannot, in all honesty, say that this book is not worth a try, but it is a big disappointment and clearly much better biographies will be forthcoming.

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Summary: Hacking Through a Thicket of Prose
Review: So much work. So little reward. I gasped and wheezed climbing this literary mountain, and when I arrived at the top, what was the reward? The fog of conventional wisdom. No new insights gained. This journey did nothing other than reinforce the popular impressions of President Reagan formed early in his presidency. Yes, the author gives us some new tidbits, i.e. Mike Reagan's not being recognized by his father at his high school gradution. But the portrait drawn -- an engaging, emotionally absent man fueled by simplistic convictions and an absolutist's sense of right and wrong -- is hackneyed.

The author presumably realized he had no product. Thus, the fictitious, distracting puffery. Thus, the publication of a book that epitomizes the maxim, "All style, no substance."

Rarely must I be armed with a dictionary when reading (and I read a lot). But here, Webster's was a constant companion. Practically every page was larded with $1,000 words that ruined narrative flow, that created an antogonistic relationship with the author.

Great biographies inspire, awe, engender rage, evoke feelings that endure. McCullough's "Truman" comes to mind. This biography, in contrast, is a flatliner, one that does not jolt or change anyone's perspective. This biography glosses over history (less than one sentence devoted to the pivotal 1980 New Hampshire primary?) but spends page after page acquainting the reader with the author's literary accomplishments, his love affair with Teddy Roosevelt. This book was an exercise in literary self-gratification.

As for the blurring of fact and fiction, I ask: why? I understand that the author invented a son, Gavin, to embody the resentments and political agenda of the Berkeley generation. But wouldn't those resentments and agenda have been conveyed more forcefully, more clearly by the author's quoting firsthand historical sources rather than by forcing us to view events through some literary prism?

This book did not stir any feelings about Reagan. But it did make me think that I'd hate to be seated next to the author at a party. What a bloviating snob.