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Ronald Reagan always campaigned on the principle of freedom for the individual and less control from "big government." In this biographical novel by Patti Davis, we learn that being the daughter of Gov. Canfield, spokesperson for "National Motors" is very much like being a prisoner of the same big government Reagan opposed. Of course names are substituted for real people, but it's obvious very little difference from Nancy and future president Ron exists. Patti recaptures her high school life at an expensive boarding school where she falls in love with Greg who goes to Viet Nam and unnerves her by re-enlisting in a war that traumatizes him into hiding out in the Oregon wilderness. She becomes an activist on her private college campus opposing the war, watching her fellow students in Chicago getting shot and beaten by National Guardsmen. Her political views and writings are always sent back to Mom and Dad, her associates investigated by the FBI and reports sent to his campaign manager. Reagan (Canfield) is pictured as a solid supporter of the war punishing her daughter's every expression of protest. But wasn't the decade of our involvement in Viet Nam a big government program, costing billions of dollars and millions of lives? The novel plows slowly at times but is worth its poignant moments. Besides her books, Patti has also acted on TV shows and posed for Playboy.

This intensely emotional book by Patti Davis (with Maureen Foster) portrays growing up in the 60s as a young woman out of step with her parents of opposite political persuasion. Just because someone grows up with wealth and advantages doesn't mean they fit into that world. Whether the story is a cry for understanding or a means of revenge, it takes the reader back in time to a decade where there were no answers for millions of young adults trying to chart their paths in unchartable waters. I remember only too well the feelings and events I saw during that time, living in California, waiting for my husband to come home from Vietnam. This book was written in 1986 making me wonder if times really have changed very much. We were politically polarized then as much as we are now but then we had the military draft so only the rich and privileged could escape. How can a young person grow up normally in a dysfunctional, media sensitive family? And yet, what is normal?