Customer Reviews

Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

While Georgia representative Bob Barr continues to wage a war to name at least one national monument in every state for Ronald Reagan, including the Washington Metro airport stop, a few historians have maintained a more skeptical look at the defining moments of the Reagan presidency.

The Reagan papers were scheduled to be released on June 21 of this year. Barring access to them, this is one of the very few books that attempts to tell a story of a presidency without gushing like a teenage girl with a crush. A great man can withstand critical scrutiny, and Haynes Johnson has given Reagan that chance---and finds Reagan coming up short of the lyrical reviews by Peggy Noonan and others.

If you want some substance for your next discussion over the deficit legacy, Star Wars, and Iran-contra---useful since many of the participants are alive, well, and in power today---you should find this book interesting, regardless of your actual politics.

Johnson has a hard-hitting and incisive critique of the lax, hands-off approach Reagan took to handling the ills of his age. It's not news that the Iran-contra affair further soured respect for government, that economic policies designed to make the rich richer also made the poor much poorer, that a pattern of denial and deception in Reagan's staff was the standard approach to dealing with the media or the Congress. Johnson admits Reagan's power as a President, but is sharply critical of much of what he accomplished through that strength. Anyone strongly sympathetic with his legacy probably ought not to look at this book; it will anger you. Others who are interested should see it. You will not have the full story of the 80s by any means; Johnson is selective about what he discusses (neither Canada nor Lebanon are indexed at the end, and AIDS is discussed on one page). But on what he does cover, like the Iran-contra scandal, and junk bonds, Johnson is thorough. I picked up the book to review the Iran-contra affair, and its reporting satisfied me. Col. Oliver North had nothing but contempt for the members of Congress who challenged him on his lies and subterfuge; that contempt was validated by Reagan's own contempt for laws he did not like or wish to enforce. (Johnson points out that Reagan appointed individuals hostile to the intent of the agency they were overseeing if he disagreed with what the agency was doing, like the Dept. of Education or the EPA.) This book was published in early 1991, and it is worthwhile to consider the parallel problems that Clinton had with the Congress late in his administration, for very different reasons. Every president since Kennedy seems to have developed an undertow towards the end of his term or terms, one that damaged the premises of his presidency; Kennedy escaped his through his early death. One wonders what the upcoming administrations will do to try to counter that effect.

This good book provides a healthy and bracing antidote to the recently forged Reagan Diary hoax, although this book seems soft on REagan, Bush, Ollie North and the rest. But that is simply the author's professional and gentle style from an earlier age of journalism, long before the rage of Hannity, Coulter and O'Reilly, when Rush was still an oddity and an anomaly, when journalism was not yet mere slap down steel cage entertainment but the scholarly presentation of historical facts clearly and concisely, as in this book, as in Murrow, as in IF Stone.



This book contains the facts of that age, objectively written by a trained journalist and historian and a true professional and gentleman with full access to all parties, the objective truth and facts about the long national nightmare which was and still is the Reagan/Bush dynastic regime, from which we as a nation still struggle to awaken and may never succeed.



As you can see I would prefer a little more polemic on the part of the author, but he is a skilled professional correctly concerned with maintaining his access to all parties and yet presenting the truth. Thus, while restraining himself from commenting directly nor editorializgin at length regarding the phenomena of that time, he skillfully does so indirectly through quotes from the players and writers of that age. We therefore read the harshest words regarding Reagan coming from the mouth of none other than Dick Cheney, quoted at great length. Haynes can wear the velvet glove and fine demeanor, and let others speak the truth no matter whom it disturbs from their eager slumber.



THe most telling section comes near the end with a closing factual summation of the effects of the Reagan administration, moving us from our position as the world's greatest lender nation to its deepest debtor nation, a depth of debt ever spiralling downwards, the destruction of our industrial and our agricultrural base, the destruction of our technological research and development, the destruction of our moral base as a nation from the largesse and self sacrifice called for so effectively by President Kennedy to the lust and unregulated greed under Reagan. We see the facts, gently presented of all of the Reagan scandals, noted by Haynes Johnson calmly in passing without outrage we might expect now, like a bored tour guide might indicate the town square stone, but letting us read the horrors there written.



For this is the teflon journalist. He points out the truth of the horror and the mud and the corruption and the dirt, but none of it sticks to him. He is too clever for that. Yet we read between the lines and we read directly the lines and we see the truth of that horrendous administration.



We must read again this book and remember the truth, for we have fallen far more deeply and we cannot get up. Whereas Reagan cut taxes and went into debt to fund his military nmonstrosities and absurdities, we go far more deeply into dept to fund an unfounded yet endless war in Iraq, consuming officially $86 billion every six months, but actually much much more for no clear nor strategic reason. We have lost nearly four thousands officially counted servicemen and women, yet actually much much more, including in civilians, women and children murdered, for what purpose.



Thus this book with its modest figures of corruption, administrative negligence and wasteful military spending bankrupting us for generations to come as our infrastructure collapses and melts down, seems like small change compared to what is happening now. Read this book, read the facts, and you will see. Reagan played Nero to the current Caligula.



Excellent book requiring space in every school library and in every truly patriotic American home. Well written, judicious, careful and correct.

Haynes Johnson captures the essential Reagan years. EPA, Iran-Contra, HUD, and the plethora of scandals that rocked this administration, while the Chief gave us movie recitations as fact. Credit is given when due, as the case with Reagan's Zero Option Nuclear treaty negotiations.

What Johnson adduces is a clueless President, who's uninterested in policy, being led around by advisors, who are often corrupt. His belief in Lasser and Stockman's supply side expectations, SDI, and conflicting threat estimates are a few examples.

The Reagan anecdotes, such as the "welfare queen" story is worth the price of the book. I'd rate this book higher than similar exposes on Reagan, such as "Landslide", however, if you're expecting a complete history, you'll be disappointed.

I have often contended that Ronald Reagan was the most over rated president during the second half of the twentieth century, and Haynes Johnson makes this case in his book. The neocon debacle of the past few years had its roots during the Reagan years in the eighties. Reagan's naps were legendary (hence the title of the book), and his record for the most vacation time spent during a presidency stood firm for twenty years, until 2007, when you-know-who breezed past.

If the paucity of reviews on Pulitzer Prize winning Haynes Johnson excellent book on the Reagan years is any indication of the number of people who have read this book I urge you to read it. I am a retired Professor of History and feel this is must reading to understand the damage done to the country by the 40th President of the United States.

One should read Johnson's book as a history of the 80's, not as a book about Reagan. Johnson paints a fascinating view of how the person in the Precedency is irrelevant, it is those he chooses to advice him. The book also verifies, "man is not altruistic by nature." One needs only look at what happens when institutions are given free rein; the institution will use the freedom for its own benefit.

Johnson makes clear anyone can be successful, in business or politics, as long as they choose the right people to run things.

Most Neo-Cons, Republicans and conservatives will hate this book. However, the book is well researched, well-crafted politica history of America during the Reagan Administration. Reaganphiles will hate it because it details the many scandals, crimes and missteps of Reagan and his people. It's hard to put a positive spin on US support for Noriega, Iran-Contra, Central American covert wars, the nasty side-effects of deregulation, etc, and to some, that's Haynes Johnson's only real crime. The narrative tries to arrange itself chronologically and by topic, which works well. There's a couple of spots that are dull, but then it's not an Ian Fleming novel.

This is a pretty interesting book for anybody who wants a quick look into the 1980s. While its concentration is on the political aspects of this wonderful decade, there is also a lot said about the culture and thoughts of the American people during this decade. Its easy to read, the flow is addicting--its hard to put this down, and the way the festering sore of the 80s is spread wide open is great. Johnson starts with the obvious, with the last hours of Carter in the White House and the begining of the new America promised by Reagan.

Naturally, as the book progresses, the dream of the great nation comes unraveled. Whatever your opinions on Reagan, Johnson will expose the high levels of corruption that permeated the White House, Congress, Pentagon, all the way down to Wall Street and the wide world of teleevangelism. Its all here!

I particularly love this book because it shows the facade of American dominance in world affairs and the economy. After all the flag waving was over, not much had changed since Carter. Corruption and greed were the new cornerstones of American life, while the losers--the poor, labor unions, ect--were looked upon as the filth the new conservatism saw them as. I hate it when those who grew up in the 80s tell me about how great it was to live then. Jobs were everywhere, Van Halen was on top of the charts, and the federal government ran at maximum efficiency. Truth is, the 80s sucked (yeah, the hard core guys got it right from the start--there was something seriously wrong with our society in the 80s). Jobs were fleeting and are now overseas, Van Halen sold bad music to mullet-heads, and the fedarl government ran up super high debts to fund star wars. I guess the decade of cocaine and quick religion wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, was it?

In our present century, President Reagan is fast becoming an icon but after I read this book I better understood why many remember his eight years in office too clearly to join the acclaim of this leader's supposed greatness. This book details the many scandals that arose from the Reagan administration, from the domino-like collapse of the savings and loan institutions, to the disregard shown for the US Constitution in the Iran-Contra Affair. Johnson exposes the side to Mr. Reagan's Presidency that's all-but forgotten today. The 1980's are the main feature of this book, and it's pointed out how the strides toward social justice that were the legacy of earlier Democratic administrations were reversed in the decade of greed. In the 80's, the richer got richer and the poor were shelved away and left to fend for themselves. That's the message of this book. I think the author was telling the truth in his work but it was elective truth and he definitely had an ax to grind with the 40th President. As for Haynes Johnson, I'll just say that I found myself bored quite often in reading this slow-moving history, and I also think the 1980's were deeper than he makes them out to be. I would have liked to have read more about popular culture and seen more of an effort made to get into the national psyche, beyond what he said time and again regarding economics. Not a very good book, particularly coming from a reporter, but it does serve to show there was another side to Ronald Reagan beyond the one we hear about today.