The City on a Hill: Fulfilling Ronald Reagan's Vision for America [Hardcover]

Michael Reagan (Author), James D. Denney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

In this new book, Michael Reagan points us back to his father's great vision for America as a Shining City on a Hill. He draws from Ronald Reagan's own words and from never-before-told stories from Ronald Reagan's life. Then he blends it all with the hidden, often shocking truth behind today's headlines. The result is a powerful, practical agenda for restoring our freedom and America's shining future. This book is a collection of strategies and solutions we all can use at the grass-roots level to restore American society and the American family, and to preserve our heritage of freedom for our children and grandchildren.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Popular talk-radio host Michael Reagan offers a political manifesto meant to update his father's philosophy for the 1990s. Much of it will make sense to conservatives who still wish Ronald Reagan occupied the White House. They will also appreciate the quotes and personal vignettes sprinkled throughout the text. The book lays out a detailed agenda, some of it bland ("Get involved with your local school"), but at times quite pointed (dismantle no-fault divorce laws, arm the Bosnian Muslims, etc.). Overall, it demonstrates that turning ideas into a reality requires the skills of a master politician, such as the one who sat in the Oval Office for most of the 1980s.

From Kirkus Reviews

Ronald Reagan's adoptive son offers a digressive tract that combines--not always effectively or gracefully--a celebration of his father's presidency, a neoconservative agenda for national renewal, score-settling asides on those he feels have done him wrong, and ad hominem attacks on Bill Clinton that might give the American Spectator pause. Drawing on his father's conceit (borrowed from Pilgrim John Winthrop) of an America that shows the rest of the world just how to create a paradise on earth, the San Diegobased radio talk-show host provides a cluttered blueprint for restoring the putatively lost glories of yesteryear when Reagan pŠre was cutting taxes, rearming the US military, jump-starting the domestic economy, and otherwise giving the country greater confidence in itself. His four-point program envisions realigning the roles played by mainstays of American society. By way of example, he would cut the federal budget and shrink government while reasserting national sovereignty. In like vein, the author urges that job-creating business be relieved of regulatory and tax burdens. He commends supporting civic and religious institutions that can take up the slack left by welfare reform and castigates government agencies at all levels for their paternalistic intrusions into the American family. At least as interested in tearing down as in building up, Reagan the Younger assails Clinton early and often, characterizing him as a slick (rather than great) communicator and the make-love- not-war president. Nor does the aggrieved author neglect to get even for slights he has suffered at the hands of Republican Party officials, Nancy Reagan (who on occasion has treated him, well, like a stepchild), and others. An odd sociopolitical amalgam, of interest mainly for the personal insights a lightweight son can provide on his world-class father, rather than its anti-Democrat invective or pro forma attempt to revive the Reagan Revolution. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 275 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc; 1ST edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785272364
• ISBN-13: 978-0785272366
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,365,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wake up call to everyone who is tired of politics as usual, February 3, 1998

By 

Michael DuBard "DuBard" (Bettendorf, Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The City on a Hill: Fulfilling Ronald Reagan's Vision for America (Hardcover)

This book should be required reading for all college students interested in politics. It is a refreshing look at what the Republican parties agenda should be. Michael Reagan brings a glimpse of hope to all those who are sick and tired of the status quo of politics. If we could only convince the politicians that there is a need for a change from the power of big government back to the power of the people.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ronald Reagans Vision for America Lives On, March 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The City on a Hill: Fulfilling Ronald Reagan's Vision for America (Hardcover)

Michael Reagan has done a wonderful service to his father in writing this book. Besides the very moving admiration he has for his father, Michael Reagan eloquently elaborates on Ronald Reagan's vision for America as a Shining City on a Hill and a Beacon of Hope to the World.

The City is divided into four "quadrants" - enumerated according to their importance, from highest to lowest.

The first quadrant is the Family Neighborhood, where values and culture are nurtured; where a core education is taught (the 3Rs); and where the streets are safe to roam and play.

The second quadrant is the Corner of Faith and Charity, where morals are rooted in a faith in God and a belief in the worth and dignity of every human being; where meaningful charity is conducted; and where compassion is motivated by a genuine and profound concern for one another.

The third quadrant is Main Street, where families are permitted to keep and enjoy the fruits of their labor; where businesses are unburdened by taxes and regulation so that they can provide better jobs, higher pay, and more choices; and where the free market is allowed flourish.

The forth quadrant is City Square, where government conducts its very limited role of providing for the protection of its citizenry from domestic and foreign threats; where it provides a basic oversight to the essential functions of society; where it ensures peace and tranquility; and where it protects the freedoms of all of its citizens.

Ronald Reagan's America is a City to Behold and one that we can still achieve. For those who miss the Gipper and his uplifting optimism for what America could be, this book is a must read.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Blue Print for Government Reform, July 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The City on a Hill: Fulfilling Ronald Reagan's Vision for America (Hardcover)

Very nice job of articulating what needs to be accomplished so individuals can have their rights and freedoms restored as defined by the Founding Fathers in the US Constituition and the Bill of Rights. Mr Reagan does a great job of linking his thoughts back to these founding documents. Unfortunately, much of our Republican leadership has lost sight of many of these conservative values as has virtually all of our Democratic leadership (with the possible exception of Senator Zell Miller).