The President Did It

Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader, by Dinesh D’Souza (Free Press, 304 pp., $25)

WE are still waiting for the definitive biography of Ronald Reagan by Edmund Morris, the Kenyan-born biographer of Theodore Roosevelt. Morris was set up as in-residence historian at the White House in 1985. He followed Reagan back to California, and at last report was wrapping things up. His New Yorker essay a few years ago reflecting on Reagan’s farewell letter to America (“I now begin the long journey into the twilight of my life . . .”) showed a nice touch. A C-SPAN interview last summer raised hopes still higher, confirming my own sense that it takes an outsider to really size up so big and familiar and thoroughly American a character. It has been nearly nine years since Reagan left office, twelve years since Morris’s project began, but masterpieces take time and I don’t want to add to the pressures and expectations he already faces. Let’s just say it had better be good.

About the Author

Matthew Scully

Matthew Scully is the author of Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy. He served as literary editor of National Review and as a senior speechwriter to President George W. Bush.

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Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader, by Dinesh D’Souza (Free Press, 304 pp., $25)

WE are still waiting for the definitive biography of Ronald Reagan by Edmund Morris, the Kenyan-born biographer of Theodore Roosevelt. Morris was set up as in-residence historian at the White House in 1985. He followed Reagan back to California, and at last report was wrapping things up. His New Yorker essay a few years ago reflecting on Reagan’s farewell letter to America (“I now begin the long journey into the twilight of my life . . .”) showed a nice touch. A C-SPAN interview last summer raised hopes still higher, confirming my own sense that it takes an outsider to really size up so big and familiar and thoroughly American a character. It has been nearly nine years since Reagan left office, twelve years since Morris’s project began, but masterpieces take time and I don’t want to add to the pressures and expectations he already faces. Let’s just say it had better be good.

About the Author

Matthew Scully

Matthew Scully is the author of Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy. He served as literary editor of National Review and as a senior speechwriter to President George W. Bush.