How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life CD

In 1982, Peter Robinson was hired as a speechwriter in the Reagan White House. One of a core group of writers who became informal experts on Reagan, Robinson absorbed not just the president's politics but his manner and way of carrying himself. And the example Reagan set - as a confident, principled, generous-spirited older man who inspired those around him - molded Robinson just as he was coming into his own. The longer I studied Ronald Reagan, he says, the more lessons I learned. At the core of How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life are ten life lessons Robinson learned from Reagan - principles that have guided his own life ever since. Yet it also offers a warm and unforgettable portrait of a great yet ordinary man who touched the individuals around him as surely as he did his millions of admirers around the world. The result is nothing less than a love story - an account of one man's profound respect and affection for the president who changed his life.

Publishers Weekly

Conservatives, exult! Robinson's self-help/memoir/Reagan hagiography is an All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten for right-wingers. The former White House speechwriter and author of It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP and Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA illuminates 10 life lessons in a love letter to the Gipper (How, Robinson asks, did such a nice guy get to be President?). By looking at both the historical (supply-side economics, the Cold War, Iran-contra) and the personal (Reagan's beliefs, his relationship with his family), Robinson unearths maxims such as Do your work and Say your prayers. The stories are engaging, and he tosses in dashes of philosophy, such as the nature of good and evil, based on Reagan's ideas. The writing style, though, is repetitive, and occasionally Robinson makes leaps in his assumptions of Reagan's motivations; none of this, however, dilutes the message. Each lesson is related to Robinson's own life either in contrast or to show how he's made Reagan's lessons scalable for his own use. Interviews with and stories about many of the major players of the Reagan administration, like Ed Meese and Colin Powell, lend an insider's feel. Behind-the-scenes details, such as how the famous Tear Down the Wall speech was composed, give a fresh perspective. And while Robinson's respect for the former president verges on deification, especially as he glosses over Reagan's shortcomings (Now, I myself was never able to get worked up over the deficits, Robinson says), this book provides solid, if somewhat obvious, lessons that will appeal to the legions of Reagan fans. (Aug. 5) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.