English Honors- Book Review “A Different Drummer, my Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan” Introduction This a review of the book titled A Different Drummer, my Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan by Michael K. Deaver, published by Harper Paperbacks in 2001 containing 248 pages. The book is a non-fiction memoir of the US’s 40th president Ronald Reagan. The books describe the personal life of the president and I think the author has been effective in providing insightful and intimate recollection of their friendship and work together. This review will analyze the author’s strengths and weaknesses, his authority in writing the memoir and whether he achieved his purpose of portraying Ronald Regan. Analysis and evaluation The book is generally …show more content…
According to Deaver, Reagan was always keen on the issues and believed that his job was to set the priorities of his administration right and to make the key decisions. I think this information about Reagan gives the audience about his personal beliefs and what he thought about the presidency as the holder of the office. Deaver also does a good job in demonstrating Reagan’s character as a man who was courteous and very considerate, never unyielding when it came to conservative values and who judged his opponents based on their character as opposed to political axiom. He also notes that Reagan was very tactful about getting support for his policies by not crossing the party’s boundaries. This explains why Reagan presidency is considered one of the most successful in the country’s history. The book, however, falls short of giving true accounts about some of the criticism experienced during Reagan’s presidency. For instance, Deaver to some extent depicts Regan as a man who cannot do wrong when he takes liability for the president’s decision to lay a wreath at a cemetery in Germany that was for Waffen soldiers. He also fails to give much information or chooses not to talk about the scandals and criticism experienced during that presidency. Hence, the book can be read with