Customer Reviews

Hand of Providence: The Strong and Quiet Faith of Ronald Reagan

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Fantastic book. I received it as a gift. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. It surveys the life of Reagan and how God was preparing him for a specific purpose. I have always been a Reagan fan, but this book deppened my admiration even more.

When President Reagan died I felt that I wanted know more about his faith and family. This book gave me a rare peek into the very private life of President and Mrs. Reagan. It answered my questions, like if he has a strong faith in God why didn't he go to church. I highly recommend this book. It is a quick and easy read and highly informative. Michael Reagan wrote the forward, and he amazed me with his hearty endorsement of the book's conclusions. This book has even helped me sort out my own beliefs.

This is a book with lots of heart and soul, but the research is also first rate. I highly recommend for Reagan fans and those interested in the power of God and inspiration.

Hand of Providence is an enjoyable read, with a comprehensive look at the many events in President Reagan's life which shaped his faith, and how his faith affected both his personal and professional life.

We had a copy of Mary Beth Brown's book sitting on the coffee table when a cousin - who holds a master's degree in history - came for a visit. He took the book down to the guest room and spent all night reading it. I think this earns Hand of Providence the accolade of being a "page turner." It is also a spiritual experience and a most revelatory glimpse into the soul of a man who changed the world forever. Even the jaded will be moved. The cousin began to pray for the first time in decades.

Hand of Providence is an awesome book, and when I opened and read the Forward by Michael Reagan, I couldn't put the book down.

I was an admirer of President Reagan before, but this book shows how he was used by God throughout his life. Now I understand how extraordinary a man he really was. I learned thing I never knew about him before.

The book is not about policy, and it isn't about government, it is about how one man faces the diffuculties of life and overcomes them with the power of prayer and reliance on his Savior, Jesus Christ.

I could see this book upsetting many secular humanists that also admire President Reagan.

In the final analysis, this book strengthened my own faith, as I learned how President Reagan overcame many trials. Read it and be inspired on nearly every page.

This book does not claim to offer an in-depth biography of Reagan, just an introduction to a frequently ignored but fundamental aspect of Reagan: his religious faith in God's plan for each individual. The book is personally inspiring because Reagan himself had his tough times: an alcoholic father, a broken engagement early on, a terrible death threat from Hollywood Communists, losing an infant child, an unexpected divorce, a disappointing movie career, and a tough loss to Gerald Ford for the 1976 Republican nomination. And yet throughout all of this, Reagan maintained his sense of destiny rooted in trust that, by God's providence, all would in the end turn out for the better. And it did.

On a more political level, the book has a chapter that captures a coalition that came into its own under Reagan and may very well decide the current presidential election: the coalition of evangelical Protestants and conservative Catholics. The Republican Party of today is unimaginable without that coalition. And all of that is owed to Ronald Reagan who, as the book points out, was uniquely situated to foster this new coalition, given his background with a Catholic father and an evangelical Protestant mother.

The book captures what is most important about Reagan, and for that it is well worth the price.

Just to get the politics out of the way, I am definitely a fan of Reagan.

That said, I think this was a poorly written book. First, the tone is entirely too close to Reagan. Obviously, the author is not a historian by training or by profession, but the book would have been a better read if it had not had such a boosterish tone.

The book also suffers from a simple case of bad writing. Though there are no howlers such as dangling participles, the book certainly has a "rushed, first-draft" tone to it. It contains many stylistic false steps, and reminds me of a mediocre term paper written by a high school student. "Reagan did blah blah blah. Reagan blah blah blah." How about using the pronoun "he" once in a while?

The text is also pedantic and given to cliches. ("the period in life between the innocence of childhood and the full responsibilities is a very challenging time.")

It veers off-topic on occasion. A discussion of the assassination attempt leads to a page-plus discussion on Biblical texts relating to angels.

Citations from noted evangelical leaders (James Dobson, for example) serve more to indicate that the author is plugged into that community; they do not, however, give much illumination to Reagan. Since they don't add anything, they simply waste space.

While the book makes an attempt to link Reagan's foreign policy with his religious views, more time could have been spent making the same connection on the domestic front. Many people think that Christian charity requires government programs. I don't share that assessment, and neither did Reagan. What about Reagan's beliefs lead him to reject that association? A case can be made, but the author doesn't do it.

The book does have some value. The description of the assassination attempt and the medical aftermath was interesting; perhaps the author's medical training helped out here. I was unaware of the ecumenical nature (Catholic father and brother; Protestant mother) of his birth family. That experience may helped Reagan reach out to the pope as well as to evangelical protestant leaders. The interviews that Reagan gave in the 60s and earlier, dug out by the author, give this member of the faith the conviction that Reagan was a true believer, and not a poser who conveniently mouthed a belief system just in time for electoral success.

I have not read Paul Kengor's book on the same subject, but having seen him on C-SPAN, I suspect that he's given a more in-depth, better written treatment to this important question of Reagan the man, the president, and the Christian.

I just finished reading "Hand of Providence" by Mary Beth Brown. I simply couldn't put the book down. I was so inspired, motivated, and became so ready to face the "changes" the future is about to bring.

I lived in one of the "former Soviet slave state" mentioned on p.195 during Reagan's presidency. Reading this book made me wish I would have been part of the American society during his leadership years. I'm greatful for the things he did for this country and for the freedom his plan brought to the other side of the planet. I now live in U.S.A and became an american citizen in 2008.

The book is filled with Reagan's actions based on a deep faith in God. There are many encouraging words that will uplift us TODAY. Just to quote a few, "the cause goes on. It's just one battle in a long war, and it will go on as long as we live...You just stay in there, and you stay there with the same beliefs and the same faith that make you do what you're doing here....Don't give up your ideals." (p.161) "God has a plan and it isn't for us to understand, only to know that He has his reasons and because he is all merciful and all loving we can depend on it that there is purpose in whatever He does and it is for our own good." (p.196)

I pray that someday another Reagan will take the stand and lead this awsome country. Until then I will remember the encouraging words I found by reading this book.

Thank you Mary Beth for writing the book. And all blessings to the ones who encouraged her to finish this project.

I am a big Ronald Reagan fan. I am also a Christian and wanted an indepth study on the faith of Ronald Reagan. This audiobook does that. Was his Christian faith genuine? Was it vital to him? Was it instrumental in what he did and thought? This book answers those questions in a very compelling way. It is an audiobook one can listen to again and again because it not only informs, it inspires.