Summary Ô PDF, DOC, TXT or eBook ✓ Craig Shirley

Last Act Download ↠ 104 His name in American politics is cited than any other president Both the Republican and Democratic parties are radically different today mainly as a result of Ronald Reagan and the force of his ideas No twentieth century president shaped the American political landscape so profoundlyCraig Shirley’s Last Act is the important final chapter in the life of Reagan that no one has thus far covered It’s the kind Last Act The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan by Craig Shirley was published in 2015 This is one of four books he has authored focusing on Reagan s national political career and retirement Shirley is an author and pubic affairs consultant a member of the Board of Governors of the Reagan Ranch and a Trustee of Eureka College His most recent book Citizen Newt The Making of a Reagan Conservative was published in 2017There is no shortage of biographies covering Ronald Reagan s long and extraordinary life But prior to Craig Shirley s book reviewing his post presidency no one had attempted to focus on the last fifteen years of Reagan s life in uite as deliberate a way as Douglas Brinkley did with Jimmy Carter in his excellent if premature book on Carter s retirement yearsThe potential for a thorough and systematic examination of Reagan s retirement years and legacy is enormous And coming a decade after Reagan s death with the chronological distance needed to critically assess his legacy the timing of Shirley s 324 page book seems ideal Unfortunately this book falls well short of its promise Last Act is far less an exploration of Reagan s retirement and legacy than it is a detailed review of the week between Reagan s death in June 2004 and his interment including the planning for his state funeral in Washington and a private service in California And while this part of this book is often poignant and revealing most of the remainder of the book is disappointingAt a high level the book proceeds chronologically from Reagan s death through his burial in Simi Valley But chapter to chapter and even from one paragraph to the next the narrative has a habit of jumping back and forth in time without warningcollecting various bits of Reagan s life in an attempt to create context What results however is not a coherent stream of thought so much as a disjointed and seemingly random stream of consciousnessAdding to the disappointment is the author s tone which is freuently hyper partisan or breathlessly defensive More than a few presidential biographers are unable to conceal their political sympathies or bias but Shirley s political perspective infuses the narrative so aggressively it becomes a distraction He excoriates a wide range of targets for their insufficient appreciation for Reagan Hollywood the media Edmund Morris New York City s municipal government elites the Nobel Committee and even high school history textbooksThe time Shirley wastes avenging a seemingly endless array of Reagan directed slights could have been better spent reviewing the enormous impact Reagan had on the world carefully observing his retirement and comprehensively assessing his legacy Instead the productive years of his retirement are only haphazardly covered and his legacy is just briefly addressed in an Author s Note at the end of the bookOverall Craig Shirley s Last Act The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan is a fine but haphazard review of Reagan s death funeral and burial in California But readers expecting a thoughtful if sympathetic review of his post presidency and political legacy will be disappointed Last Act is too often a rambling mess concerned with vindication than analysis or persuasionOverall rating 2 stars

Last Act Download ↠ 104 Of book that widens our understanding of American history and of the presidency and the men who occupied it To tell Reagan’s story Craig has secured the complete exclusive and enthusiastic support of the Reagan Foundation and Library and spent considerable time there reviewing sealed files and confidential informationCast in a grand and compelling narrative style Last Act contains interesting and heretofor Disjointed at times Also it was a little too anecdotal when it came to Reagan s post presidency life The book offhandedly mentions Reagan s freuent golf outings outdoor adventures big speeches writings foreign travel and meetings with important leaders and heads of state during those key 5 6 years following his presidency My complaint is that the book offers too little if any detail on these eventsThe book does thoroughly describe how Reagan and his family courageously dealt with the terrible burden of Alzheimer s disease Also the public events surrounding Reagan s state funeral as well as a little of the behind the scenes events and personalities that went with it were covered well In this regard Shirley s book is certainly valuable for historians

Summary Ô PDF, DOC, TXT or eBook ✓ Craig Shirley

Last Act Download ↠ 104 E untold anecdotes about Reagan Mrs Reagan their pleasure at retirement the onslaught of the awful Alzheimer’s and how he and Mrs Reagan dealt with the diagnosis the slow demise the extensive plans for a state funeral the outpouring from the nation which stunned the political establishment the Reagan legacy and how his shadow looms and over the Republican Party Washington the culture of America and the worl Conceptually this was a good idea most biographies of President Reagan end when his presidency ended this biography focuses on his post presidency life The execution is the problem Rather than a straight ahead narrative it is stream of consciousness and can get repetitive It is also hampered due to little being known about his life following his Alzheimer s diagnosis Nevertheless the author has some new stories to tell Reagan was the first president to have a woman in his protective detail despite her job he always insisted she go through doors first I still remember the outpouring of support following his death but was fascinated to hear how the infirm Margaret Thatcher was determined to pay her respects The author also provides abundant examples of his vilification by the left which actually accelerated following his Alzheimer s diagnosis and death