Customer Reviews

The Way I See It: An Autobiography

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I read this book following the death of President Reagan so found it timely and revealing since I observed Patti and her mother during the funeral ceremonies. This family is surely one which struggled with their relationships; according to the author, most of the time they failed with the notable exception of Pres. Reagan and Nancy Reagan. Patty was quite honest and direct in admitting her weaknesses and her failures; she was brutally frank in her assessments of her parents. I found her life quite shallow and do not think she has made much of a contribution to this word, although I do not know what has occupied her time from the writing of the book to the present. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to have inside information about the family, but bear in mind that there are always two sides to every story and we only hear the one side in this autobiography.

Patti Davis' autobiography may have been written out of misguided anger, "to get even", as part of her own therapeutical search for herself, or because she thought the "truth" as she saw it was important to tell. But the questions for the reader and the historian are a) is it an accurate and truthful portrait of her relationships with her parents, Nancy and Ronald Reagan, and b) what does it tell us about her father's presidency. As to the first question, there appears to be little doubt that it is essentially accurate, since her account has been collaborated by others and her parents have not denied its essentials.

The second question, its value to history, is more subjective and harder to judge. My own view is that it is a significant contribution, and not just to the history of her father's presidency. One of the big debates about Bill Clinton's presidency was whether his moral failings reflected on his public leadership, with his defenders saying no and his critics yes. Davis' story is evidence that there is indeed a discontent between a politicians's private relations with his family and his public leadership. Her story also sheds light on the Teflon nature of Reagan's personality - how he could be so mellow and fatherly on the outside and so distant from the real problems facing the country; how for example he could complain about budget deficits or promise a safety net for the downtrodden while adopting policies which resulted in astronomical budget defects and the disintegration of the safety net.

"The Way I see It," while reasonably well written, is not a classic autobiography or the story of a person who has made a contribution to society. But nonetheless, it sheds light on the Reagan personality and his presidential style. It deserves to be seriously dealt with by future historians, and not simply passed off as a "get even book" by an estranged daughter.

Patti Davis apparently made peace with her parents just before her father descended into the ravages pf Alzheimer's. This must have taken a lot of courage and intrinsic love on both sides and she and her parents, especially her mother, are to commended for doing so in light of all the baggage they each carried. This reconciliation does not change either her story or the significance of her book, but it would interesting (and helpful to other dysfunctional families) if she wrote a sequel focusing on the reconciliation,

In this autobiography, Patti Davis is ruthlessly honest, brutally frank, and holds nothing back, but after reading it I'm somewhat baffled. At times, she demonstrates a deep insight and understanding of human nature. But, for the most part, she comes across as erratic, extremely shallow, and almost unbelievably naïve. One is left to wonder if she is truly gifted or if she is simply a little girl who lost her way and was never able to find it again.

One thing is certain, though: Patti Davis had no familial relationship with her father, Ronald Reagan, and almost no interrelationship with him once she was full grown. This, as she likely intended, is made perfectly clear by her writing. She complains that her father made no attempt to interact with her, to listen to her, or to understand her views. Yet throughout the book it is just as obvious that Patti made no attempt to understand his views, that she trivialized his every thought and word, opposed everything he stood for, gave him no respect, and apparently cared little about him. Her feelings towards her father and her innate fear of her abusive mother may have been well founded, but they certainly led Patti to a sad, confused, shallow, and unhappy life.

The most remarkable thing to me about the book, however, is that it was copyrighted in 1992, well after Reagan had left office and long after his policies had been proven to be correct. Yet, Patti, in writing about his, in her opinion, wrong and dangerous policies in the 1970s-80s, wrote in the present tense. In 1992, then, Patti still believed that Reagan was wrong and she and her leftist activist friends were right.

I was also surprised to find that Ms. Davis thought that she and her fellow activists in the 70s-80s were seen as "politically incorrect," when in fact, liberalism was the prevailing theme of the day. Ronald Reagan's were the "politically incorrect" views. I was even more astonished that Patti could be so naïve as to believe that, if given the opportunity, a leading anti-nuclear activist friend of hers could persuade President Reagan that he was wrong and she was right. How could Patti not know, or even have an inkling, that the President of the United States might have a plan of his own and have access to advice and intelligence information far beyond her and her friend's wildest imaginations? But Patti gives him no credit.

Ronald Reagan never believed that his family was dysfunctional. Why, I cannot imagine, for anyone who reads the biographies of Patti Davis and Nancy, Michael, and Maureen Reagan must surely come to that conclusion. Although they cast Reagan in a very poor light, I highly recommend them especially to anyone seeking to better understand Ronald Reagan and his complex personality.

This book details Ms Davis' struggles for personhood. She surfs through a charmed life on her parents' fame, and then claims to be courageous and independent because she argues with her parents. At the end of her struggle, she acheives a rare shallowness of which she is extremely proud because it's not quite as bad as her parents'. The dirt on the Reagan family was interesting, but only in an Enquirer sort of way. This book reminds me a lot of BD Hyman's book about her mother, Bette Davis.

Patti Davis uses this book to tell her story. It had been known to the country during Ronald Reagan's presidency, that his parenting was questionable. A lot of people who have read this book thinks it's just a huge rip at her parents, and that she's using her celebrity status. I don't believe either. While yes, she's not very nice to her parents, she doesn't paint them in an unfair picture. She simply tells her side and why she disagreed with her parents. She doesn't exactly paint herself as the virgin mary. She just speaks from her heart. As far as using her celebrity, why 5 years after her father had left office? If she was just trying to sell her book, why not in the middle at the height of his presidency?

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to look inside of a life of a first daughter. Yes, it all seems glamerous, but this book simply reminded me that in the end, we're all the same.