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Annelise Anderson's Profile
Customer Reviews: 13
New Reviewer Rank: 169,402
Classic Reviewer Rank: 33,749
Helpful Votes:
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Reviews Written by
Annelise Anderson (Portola Valley, CA United States)
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Why Reagan's Stock Is Rising, September 8, 2009
The Age of Reagan: 1980-1989 is a fascinating account of the Reagan era and the Reagan presidency--a great read. Here are not only the policies (both domestic and foreign) but the politics, the insider debates and the conflicts.
Many people--including some committed liberal scholars Hayward quotes--think more highly of Reagan now than they did when he left office, for two reasons the author notes:
1) The "dramatic and unexpected end of the Cold War, and the demise of the Soviet Union, for which even Reagan's critics allow him a substantial role in the outcome" and
2) "the revelation of Reagan's extensive writings--radio addresses, letters, speeches, and finally his personal diary--which displayed a lively and informed mind and a greater depth of character than hitherto imagined. . .At long last we had found the rest of him."
Hayward makes good use of Reagan's own writings, which became available between 2001 and 2007, integrating them into the narrative of the broad sweep of the history of these years and giving us the flavor of Reagan's own thinking, decision-making, and sometimes frustrations with the foreign and domestic personalities with whom he was dealing.
Since Hayward wrote, even more of "the rest of him" has become available through recently declassified minutes of many of the National Security Council meetings Reagan chaired.
Hayward acknowledges that he's always been sympathetic to Reagan, but notes that he doesn't shrink from reporting weaknesses or criticizing errors or mistakes. I've found this claim fulfilled as I read the text. Hayward also gives us considerable insights into the political philosophies and debates that continue to this day. The best book yet about the Reagan era.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Good product with poor documentation and support., September 30, 2005
As with its other products, this company provides poor help
with the product (just a printable pdf document that should have
come in the box) and no indexed, searchable help by keyword or
topic. This full version should offer more "how to" assistance
without searching the web site (which searches badly--I searched
for "maximum size" and got a response saying I could not use words
like I, and, it, the, and the like, which was irrelevant (i.e.,
broken search engine). Nevertheless, it does some useful things.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Hardcover has 42 reviews--, July 14, 2005
See the hardcover edition for customer reviews. The paperback is the same as the hardcover but has a few corrections of typos and other references. I would hope Amazon would duplicate the customer reviews here, but meanwhile the link in the editorial reviews will work.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
The best portrait of Nancy Reagan in print, March 11, 2004
If you want to understand a president--and Ronald Reagan is a president worth understanding--you have to know something about the people really close to him. Including his wife, his First Lady. And long-time aide Michael Deaver.From the time Deaver went to work for Reagan in 1966--when Reagan stunned the political world with his election as governor of California--one of Deaver's major duties, in connection with overseeing Reagan's schedule, was liaison with Nancy Reagan. It was a task that terrified most of the staff. When Reagan's two terms as governor ended, Deaver and Peter Hannaford created a public relations firm with Ronald Reagan as their main client, travelling with him (and Nancy) around the country from 1975 through his election to the presidency in 1980. Again Deaver was Nancy's major contact and confidante, as he was in the White House. Michael Deaver knows Nancy Reagan better, perhaps, than anyone. He knows things no one else knows, and in this book he provides the best portrait we yet have of the challenges she has faced as the wife of Ronald Reagan during his political career--and afterward--and how she dealt with these challenges. It is a portrait far different from the impression many people probably have. And, true to his public relations skills, Deaver tells it all through stories about people and events, including all the difficult ones--the governor's mansion, the clothes, the ranch, the shooting, astrology, the long good-bye. Deaver does less footnoting (in fact, none at all) than most authors, and there's no index. But it's a good read and has its own importance as a memoir of Deaver's long association with the Reagans.
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Gavin Knows What He's Writing About, November 15, 2003
This is a fast-moving page-turner for anyone intrigued with the day-to-day process of political campaigns, written with the insights of someone who's been working for political candidates and office holders since 1968 or so.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Historically Telling and Prescient, December 10, 2001
The contributors to this book, who addressed virtually every domestic, economic, foreign, and defense policy the Reagan government would encounrter, were many of them to take specific jobs
in the Administration and thus not only advised but implemented their views of the policies the administration should pursue. "we
know what you think." Gorbachev said." "It is all here in this book." Even the writers did not foresee that their work would come so much to fruition. Reagan himself said in his farewell speech during his last days in office, "We meant to change a nation, and instead we changed a world."
This book is in itself a case study of how writers from the academy influence the course of a government.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Task-Oriented Introduction That Works, November 29, 2001
I'm pleased to have written this book (it's working for real people). I get messages like this:
"Today I successfully and without a single hitch, installed FreeBSD 4.3 Release on my Sony PCG-F180 laptop by following your instructions precisely.
This is my first sojourn into Unix, which I ultimately plan to use to run a small internet mail server in my house (on an old P1-150 machine).
Bravo!"Only one reviewer has had a problem with the physical book not holding up (I'm sure the publisher would replace it) so overall I think this has been a contribution to FreeBSD and its users. There's some stuff in the book (like how to use the ed editor in single user mode) that isn't in any other book or the Handbook.
With only a few books specific to our own central interest...we need them all, don't we? Your most interested and concerned author,
Annelise
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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
Audio Theatre, Audio History, November 29, 2001
My coeditors (Martin Anderson and Kiron Skinner) were thrilled when we heard this production. Reagan's voice from the original recordings is strong and clear; the narrator tells the listener what's happening in the world to which Reagan speaks between 1975 and 1979 as he runs for the presidency, talking about foreign policy, domestic policy, and personal matters. The three of us and George Shultz, Nancy Reagan, Ed Meese, Peter Hannaford, Mike Deaver, Richard Allen, William Clark, and Harry O'Conner comment on the times and Reagan's views and how they will come to affect his presidency. The CD has facsimiles of 18 of the documents Reagan himself wrote (38 pages altogether).
The texts of some of these documents are in Reagan In His Own Hand; others are in Stories in His Own Hand (a shorter, more personal book, with many photographs).
We talk about a fast-moving who-done-it as a "good read"; I call this a "good listen", far more compelling than I expected it to be.
Reagan wrote; he recorded; it got distributed (syndicated around the country to hundreds of stations); and "poof!" it disappeared. But it didn't. Here they are, as he actually delivered them. An historical and American treasure.
Annelise Anderson
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
A Book to Treasure in These Times, November 29, 2001
We (the editors) didn't know how much these words of Ronald Reagan might mean in these times of unusual challenge for ourselves and our nation. These stories (all written in his own hand) about people and their courage in times of unusual challenge, the facsimilies of the original documents that accompany many of them, and the photographs (many previously unpublished) of Reagan at different times in his career provide a perspective on Reagan as a person--and thus another viewpoint on his success as a politician in American life. Some stories (of his) are about his first experience with racial prejudice and how he dealt with it; his favorite jokes; his first jobs.
We think it's not only a treasure of Reagan writings, but a collection that gives us insight into the man who knew he sat where the buck stops but also knew where he wanted it to stop; and how he got to be that man.
Annelise Anderson
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
A Book to Hold in Your Hand, November 29, 2001
With this second edition, the FreeBSD Handbook comes of age. It even has an index now!
Nik Clayton and Murray Stokley (and many contributors) have rewritten a good deal and clarified more, and added real screen shots.
Yes, it's available on your hard drive. But for me a book is a better random access device than computer file (or a bunch of html files)--I have a better chance of finding what I need and keeping it open on my desktop (the real one) while I'm working.
The handbook tends to be less task-oriented than other books (of which there are still only a handful) and focuses more on FreeBSD itself than on UNIX in general, but it's an essential reference.
I think the editors and contributors did a great job.
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(Portola Valley, CA United States)
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