Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe (all) the hype
Review: Mr. Morris says it perfectly himself: this book should be read first, then commented on. Unfortunately, far too many people have been ignoring this sound advice and taking it upon themselves to eviscerate a book they haven't even opened yet. This is not only annoying, it is intellectually dishonest. The fact is that "Dutch" is a superbly written and heavily researched book. It masterfully tells the story of Ronald Reagan and will likely stand as the definitive biography for years to come. While I might have preferred it if Morris had dispensed with the fictional narrator he uses in the book, it did not detract from my overall enjoyment of it.
Rating: 
Summary: innacurate and hard to read
Review: I dont care that the authors technique was unusual, but I do care that the book is a torture to read. The story jumps around from situation to situation, and from person to person so much that it sometimes doesnt make sense. Also, the style is so overly flowery, almost like a poorly written poem, that it becomes quite tedious.The author is more concerned with his own viewpoints and feelings that he forgets that the book is supposed to be about someone else. All in all a very disappointing tome.
Rating: 
Summary: When your subject dictates the demands
Review: I took a different tact in reading Mr. Morris' book given the ballyhoo. I began at the end when the author was truly in present character and worked my way backwards. If you read the last part of the book for what it is -- an objective inside view of Reagan as president -- it is not bad at all. He consults some first hand sources such as interviews with RR, Nancy and key admin figures and the presidential diaries. We cannot fault the author for not being able to understand his subject. Reagan comes across as distant, aloof, cool -- qualities that served him well as president. But we never get to know the man inside. Sadly, this is the challenge with the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the book. It's almost if Morris traveled back in time and was merely an observer, not fearing to get too close to his subject for fear of altering his behaviour or changing future events, but trying to gain or conjecture through observation what Reagan might have been thinking. Alas, no other biographer will come closer either. Mr. Morris is a fine writer as anyone who has read "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" will testify (it remains my favorite biography of all time). I hope he can put the novel . . . er biography . . . behind him and move on to "T-Rex" -- volume two of the three part opus on the Rough Rider in the White House.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Work
Review: This book, although not written like a conventional biography, does a great job of capturing Ronald Reagan. Everyone should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A very good read
Review: As an English Professor and amateur historian, I have loved and admired "the Gipper" since "The Speech" in 1964. Therefore, I was fully prepared to dislike this book (and its author) intensely. However, I've just put it down, reluctantly, after reading non-stop for hours. It was a very good read! His use of fictional characters will remain controversial but I believe there was no other way to effectively present this almost mythic man. I found the use of Gavin Morris as a metaphor for leftist opposition to Mr. Reagan, particularly inspired. Mr. Morris will not appreciate this, but his book reminds me of the historical novels of Gore Vidal--except Mr. Morris writes better, with moments of breathtaking beauty and insight.
Rating:
Summary: Fiction/Nonfiction concept not so bad
Review: As a die hard nonfiction reader the idea of having an author insert himself as a fictional character in a biography of such importance sounded pretty disgusting to me at first thought. Surprisingly I have found it to not be as disruptive as I was expecting. There are tons of notes to verify comments that were made to the author about Mr.Reagan from a very impressive list of past and present friends, family, enemies, etc. The author has covered Mr. Reagans' life to the smallest detail and I found it to be an enjoyable read. If you are a true Reaganite I believe you will also enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Self Serving at best
Review: Mr. Morris robed $3 million and also the American people who deserved much, much more of President Regan's life and times. Presidential memoirs are to be held in a certain reverence as a bookmark to history. Mr Morris has shattered that belief and leaves the reader trying to swim through what is fact, history and fiction. Inserting himself into one of the most anticipated biographies this century will forever brand him as a selfserving, self-important hack. He himself justifies this title by having to defend his methods on the talk show circuit and in the begining of the book. It's pure trash and a dis-service to the reader and to the Regan family.
Rating:
Summary: strange but interesting book
Review: As a child of the 80's I eagerly awaited the publication of Dutch. I was hoping for an engrossing account such as those written about Nixon by Stephen Ambrose or Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. I spent the weekend reading this book ant it was at times engrossing. The book however had a poetic surreal flavor that was not in sync with the Reagan that we all remember. It was kind of like 1000 years of solitude meets Jimmy Stewart. The story of Reagan is a good one, even without the access that Mr Morris had. It seems to me that the first serious biography of Reagan, one of 4 seminal US presidents in this century (The others being Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson) should have had more about what he believed and more about the reality of Reagan's world. As it has been said of both Ambrose's Nixon and Caro's Johnson, you feel you are there in this book you wander in the mist.
Rating:
Summary: AN ABSOLUTELY STUNNING FAILURE ON EVERY LEVEL
Review: Having just finished reading this disastrous tome, I find my mind numb and my heart full of pity for the very unfortunately Mr. Morris. Surely this author will go down in history as the most foolish and self-destructive biographer ever to have sunk his own literary career. Like Judge Ito in the OJ trial, Morris was tapped on the shoulder by history and presented a fantastic and unrivaled opportunity to "do the right job" and achieve honor and some form of greatness. Like Ito, Morris was overwhelmed by his sudden celebrity status and destroyed by his atomic burst of vanity and ego. "Dutch" is such a calamity! It's flaws are legion - but beneath everything is its bizarre egomanical construction - confusing, irritating, off-putting. Simply, a colossal mess which bores and enrages the reader by its sheer ineptness and pretentiousness. Whatever your politics or opinion of Reagan, this is a shallow and hideously conceived biography. Fact totally lost in a gush of mindless fiction. For a superb review, calm and authoritive, see the Los Angeles Times Book Review cover, October 3.
Rating:
Summary: A readable Reagan Biography with good insight.
Review: "Dutch" is a difficult book to categorize. As has been said in all previous reviews of the book, the controversy over what is probably a nearly unique style is sure to be as considerable as the interest in the subject. A factual biography cloaked in an at times fictional narrative is certainly a style that would never have occured to me. But President Reagan is a difficult topic (it took the brilliant Mr. Morris 14 years to get this far) that may call for unorthodox approaches. As a grade-schooler and high-schooler through the "Reagan Revolution", I remember my thoughts on this president. I regarded him as a great man and a great leader. Later, when I had seen some of the effects of the "Revolution" (most noticably it's has-nots who never would have after all) I questioned how "great" Reagan's tenure at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue had really been, and have ever since. This book has moved me back towards admiration for Ronald Reagan the President, if not entirely for the administration and all its works, ways, and woes. It's true that his record on civil rights is questionable; its true that he has stances that I would consider positively dangerous on womens' health, gay issues, etc. It's likewise true that his massive spending on defense contributed mightily to the debt we will all work to recover from for decades. However, after reading "Dutch", I'm convinced that many of these policy "failings" as I would call them were just non-issues in the Reagan White House. Reagan's strengths as president were his charisma (an elusive and at times two-edged sword), and his focus on his own agenda. Those items not on the agenda (like the ones above, among others) simply didn't matter. I'd thought through these issues in the past, but Mr. Morris' book clarified them for me. Although many critics are bemoaning the literary style, I think it captures the essence of the former president. President Reagan's time in Washington was all about "spin" and "spin control". I think this book mirrors this by creating images of the author's own imagination. The point missed by critics of the method (I believe) is that it is possible to detect the spin, fairly easily in fact, and focus on the message. In creating a biography of a figure as elusive as President Reagan, maybe its necessary to do it with a bit of "smoke and mirrors". Such things were, after all, so central to everything the Reagan White House was, and in the Republican imagination, continues to be.
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