This may seem kind of random — and certainly a bit tardy — but better late than never. I’ve been reading and writing a lot about the 1960s and 1970s lately and I’m constantly amazed by how good Steven Hayward’s The Age of Reagan is. When it first came out, I never got around to reading it because, well, I didn’t. But I always sort of assumed it was a just a Reagan bio — not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it’s really not. It’s really one of the best histories of recent American politics I’ve ever come across. Exhaustively researched and meticulously argued, it’s just an immensely useful piece of work. No, Steve didn’t put me up to this. I’m sure he’d rather I plug his Index of Environmental Indicators.