From Publishers Weekly
This engaging if hagiographic study argues the seemingly obvious point that the former President's outlook was shaped by his religious beliefs. Political scientist and Hoover Institution fellow Kengor has pored over Reagan's letters and speeches to glean examples of his faith, from his youth as a Disciples of Christ stalwart and Sunday school teacher to his 1988 trip to Moscow, where he lectured Communists from Gorbachev on down on the importance of religious freedom. More devotional than scholarly, Kengor's treatment emphasizes the ex-president's affinities with evangelical Protestantism; Reagan "invited Christ into his life," acknowledged God's "special plan" for him, believed in end-times prophecy and even had his presidency foretold by the Holy Spirit during a prayer circle. Readers troubled by reports of astrology at the Reagan White House are assured that it determined scheduling, not policy, and that only Nancy was really into it. Kengor accepts the links Reagan himself drew between his religious beliefs and his politics, on social issues like school prayer, sex education, and abortion, and most importantly on his anti-Communism, which harped on Soviet religious persecution and consistently identified atheism as Communism's original sin. But the spiritual rootedness Kengor highlights is not exactly of Gandhian proportions. As he too briefly acknowledges, many of Reagan's pious formulations, like the "shining city on a hill" motif and the imprecations against Communist godlessness, were commonplaces of America's "civil religion." In other words, sometimes it's hard to tell where spirituality ends and rhetoric begins.
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Review
"A profound character study, an engrossing work of history...a heartbreakingly beautiful love story about one man and his Maker." --
Peter Robinson, Reagan speechwriter and author of How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life"Finally, a book that not only focuses on my dads faith but gets it right." --
Michael Reagan"Paul Kengor now reveals the inner heart and soul of this great man." --
Judge William P. Clark, National Security Advisor, Reagan Administration"Paul Kengor takes the reader to depths where no other writer has yet been -- Ronald Reagan's very soul. " --
Peter Schweizer, author of Reagan's War"What an outstanding and thoroughly documented demonstration of the role faith played in the life and leadership of President Reagan!" --
Don Hodel, Secretary of the Interior, Reagan Administration