Dutch : A Memoir of Ronald Reagan

Rating:
Summary: The Author Gets In The Way...
Review: I really wanted to read this book because I was curious about Reagan: Some think him an idiot, others think he's one of the greatest presidents in history. I wanted to decide for myself. This book might have been useful in that decision, because it covers most of Reagan's life, but the more I got into it, the more annoying the author seemed. The author's style of writing is pretentious, and he is so full of himself, I couldn't get past his obnoxious self-examination to enjoy the book.

For example, he writes of himself: "Loss, the biographer's torment: longing for treasures unrecoverable, hardly assuaged by the recovery of trifles--an oar or a floating hat, after everything else has gone over the weir. Private loss, too. So many other 'last chances.' Budding opportunities unblown, breasts not cupped in my hand, scripts unfilmed and books unfinished, a marriage in ashes, a boy gone underground. Loss of youth, of middle age, of Time itself. Sydney Ann. Gavin. Father. And before them all, before everybody who ever lived, young and beautiful and wise, Bess--lost, too!--sing Schubert in our big music room on Lake Shore Drive in the spring of 1919." (If you like this style of writing in a biography, you might like the book, but I didn't.)

Morris is peeved that Reagan doesn't connect with people at a deep level and considers it a mystery that Reagan is not very introspective. Morris should get out more: Lots of men are like that. Morris also seems to have made up his mind about Reagan-that he's an inferior human being because of his superficial relationships-very early on, and he uses his material, fictional and nonfictional, to support that premise. Even when he's talking about Reagan's good points, he seems subtly sarcastic and dismissive. May I suggest that you check the book out of your library before possibly wasting your money on it?

May I also suggest the book "How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life," written by one of Reagan's speechwriters, Peter Robinson. This book is also biased, but it reveals a lot and is written in an engaging, endearing style. Also good, I think, is Landslide, the Unmaking of the President 1984-1988 by journalists Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus, which only covers his second term. After reading Landslide, I really understood what all the fuss was about re the Iran-Contra debacle. Comparing Reagan in his second term (Landslide) with Reagan in his first term led me to guess that he might have been in the early stages of Alzheimer's in those last few years.

Rating:
Summary: Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh! What a waste!!!
Review: I absolutely loved Morris' first two volumes of his Teddy R. bio. Was he insane when he came up with this approach to his Reagan book?

Rating:
Summary: Who?
Review: The most incomprehensible aspect of this work has to be the insertion of a fictionalized Edmund Morris throughout the book. The name of the book, after all, is "Dutch", which was Reagan's nickname. Why, then, must the reader endure page after page of a fictional life to parallel the life of the former president? By the time one has finished the book, it could be surmised that Sir Morris has merely been lamenting his own observations of Reagan. Morris complains time and again in the pages of this biography that Reagan was too austere, and Morris apparently had a hard time getting the man to open up in numerous interviews.

How unfortunate. Not only for Morris, but for all his readers. I'm sorry that the author didn't get the touchy-feely conversations he desired with Reagan, but I remember the interview he did with "60 Minutes" to promote the publication of the bio. In it, he shows Mike Wallace (or whoever it was who did the interview) a large oak desk filled with note cards, all of them color-coded. This is the information the man had at his fingertips to do the work at hand. Even if Morris had begun the research this year, after Reagan's death, he would still have available numerous contemporaries from Reagan's Hollywood and political careers. He would have available every movie in which Reagan appeared, endless hours of videotape, and interviews conducted by plenty of other reporters. He would have available Reagan's closest confidante, his wife.

But all his brilliant research, all those many years in close proximity to the sitting president, is boiled down to an impish whining because Reagan didn't pour out his soul.

To cloud research and thoughtful interpretation of a highly successful and prominent national leader further, Morris subjects the reader to an almost incomprehensible Ivy-league vocabulary. Yes, Sir Morris, we're all impressed with the big words you know. That makes you smarter than us all. Like all elitists, Morris vaunts himself above the fray in order to drive home the idea that what he says on any given subject should be taken as gospel.

But this doesn't explain the insertion of complete fiction, and the reduction of an important figure's long life into almost anecdotal chronology, sometimes inserting nothing more than rumor. Perhaps someday someone with an equal amount of intelligence will be able to approach Reagan with a little more objectivity, and give this important part of American history the biography he deserves.

Rating:
Summary: Morris: A Brilliant Writer; Reagan: An Elegant President
Review: Edmund Morris's Dutch shines an interesting light on both the president and his history. I thought that this book was enjoyable to read. It is not the biography we had to shuffle through in school. Morris presents the history of Ronald Reagan in the form of a historical fiction. The recollection of the president's younger years is so real that it is difficult to imagine that Morris made the whole account up. That is, he invented the narrator and the narrator's relation to the young Dutch. He also invented other characters and their relations to young RR. It gives a lifelike quality to Reagan's childhood that simply listing off facts could not. I thought that the fiction parts were enjoyable. Morris is a gifted writer; his literary style is not overly heavy or burdensome. He wields words in a way that allows him to cast a comprehensive image of Reagan in our minds. If one allows Morris's image to be the final account, the fictional characters do not have an overall impact. They exist only to reflect the whole Ronald Reagan. It is apparent that Morris spent the necessary time researching Reagan.
The first half of this massive (and at first daunting) work is really much like a popular fiction novel to read. I found myself engrossed in the work entirely, reading for hours at a time. He explains Reagan and the events that made the man in a way that connects them. He presents the "Teflon" president in a way that allows us to connect to him and his childhood. Later on the book does not move with quit as much ease, but it provides more insight on Reagan's policies and ideals behind them. A mixed blessing, Morris sometimes glosses over timeframes that the reader may or may not deem important. I think that this was necessary; it makes the book much more readable.
Morris's created characters often are used to criticize Reagan so that the narrator can defend him. I think that this was a superior tactic. It allows the reader to understand necessary critiques of Reagan while allowing the author to remain respectful of this great leader. Morris often comes through as quite arrogant. He is prone to use erudite language and form. I found this comical and quite bearable. As with all great writers, Morris is perhaps a bit eccentric. This is not a reason to disregard this book.
Reagan comes through as a great man and leader. All presidents have shortcomings, and Morris exposes Reagan's. I think, however, that the ideology and brilliance of Dutch shines through. I will admit that this is not a book for all aspiring readers. I think that real life parallels this work, and as Morris portrays Reagan's critics as not understanding him, reader's dislike of this book may be based on a similar lack of understanding.


Rating:
Summary: AUDIO VERSION IS BETTER
Review: I tried to read Dutch when it came out, but couldn't get past 100 pages. This abridged audio version eliminates the central problem with the printed book.

Whereas the full text spends chapters describing the fictional Morris character who would later know Reagan and write this book, the audio version summarizes those chapters and gets on to the good stuff. To the credit of Morris he reads the books himself and lets the editors cut out his favorite parts.

What's left of the book is entertaining and informative. Morris has a novelist's way of describing events unfold and he clearly likes Reagan even if he doesn't understand him.

The telling of the attempted assassination is particularly good. He sets the scene nicely and captures the thoughts and actions of the principles quite well.

Having traveled with Reagan to his summits with Gorby, Morris spends a good portion of the book telling his first hand account of those actions. Or was it Morris the fictional character that attended?

There was a really good book to be mined here had Morris only lopped off his story device and got to the heart of the matter. The audio version almost corrects this flaw with the addition by subtraction method.

Rating:
Summary: Just pertinent parts,as when he was shot are worth reading
Review: This is a book that seeks to destroy President Reagan's legacy. Reagan boring??? I dont think so. I go with the authors wife's comment, "well be certainly bored a lot of people to vote for him. This mainly is trash. It's certainly not an objective look at what President was, meant or said. I just wish I could give it half a star!

Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: Terrible writer who is more in love with his own pompous ass than in writing an informative and usefull book on the subject at hand.

Can't believe something like this ever went to print.

Rating:
Summary: A Peculiar but Insightful Biography
Review: Morris's Dutch is a unique biography. He was given unprecedented access to Reagan during the presidency (his cooperation with Morris speaks volumes about Reagan's self confidence). The book covers Reagan's life in brilliant and personal detail. Morris introduces a new technique: he put himself in the storyline as a small character throughout Reagan's life. This is odd, and occasionally confusing, but it allows the reader to get a complete portrait of the 40th President. And perhaps it took this unusual technique to get a full image of this elusive man. Morris's writing style is disciplined, his commentaries penetrating, and his research impressive. An important book and an excellent read.