Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980

"Lacking the bountiful incisive commentary of Perlstein's earlier work, however, and bogged down by the unremitting rotation between multiple story lines, Reaganland's narrative doesn't reach full speed until the 1980 campaign."

"full of portents for the current day."

"As might be expected from its massive length, Reaganland occasionally sags, and like any kitchen-sink history, it inherently invites quibbles with points of emphasis and omission."

"Perlstein masterfully connects deep currents of social change and ideology to prosaic politics, which he conveys in elegant prose studded with vivid character sketches and colorful electoral set-pieces ..."

"He is not a creature of the archives either: These are heavily anecdotal narratives, combining a rehashing of big, media-driven spectacles with a deft appreciation for the smaller tremors...Perlstein sees American culture holistically, and his method is to implant you into the whole of a living tissue."

"In fact, in this long but never-a-wasted-word account, much is depressingly familiar, including tax giveaways to the very rich and the political exploitation of what a Reagan aide called middle-class 'discontent, frustration + anger.' Other moments seem at once distant and contemporaneous, from confrontations with Iran and North Korea to episodes such as Jonestown and the murder of Harvey Milk ..."

"Perlstein casts a broad net, riffing on everything from Ted Bundy to New York Mayor Ed Koch, but that is part of the package here; by the end readers have more insight on the rising tide of conservative politics."

"Reaganland delivers a worthy and captivating conclusion to a rip-roaring, revelatory, and definitive four-volume journey through the dark heart of Movement Conservatism ..."

"As with the best popular histories (an undervalued subgenre, even with such widely acknowledged masters of the form as Barbara Tuchman and William Manchester), Perlstein's book not only rolls out its sequence of events but also evokes their emotional impact, whether it was shock, incredulity, or delight."

"But it seems fair to conclude that the work is necessary, if not sufficient, and that many will not feel the tremors as the ground shifts under their feet."