Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Debating the Reagan Presidency (Debating Twentieth-Century America)

The presidency of Ronald Reagan has become a Rorschach Test for politicians and citizens alike. While many conservatives see the Reagan era of the 1980s as the high-water mark for their movement and a time of national recovery from the difficulties of the 1970s, many liberals maintain that the rosy Reagan legacy is based largely on myth, and that in fact his eight years as president caused serious harm to the country. John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm give due attention to the lasting controversies surrounding the Reagan record and provide a balanced view of the fortieth president's foreign and domestic policies. Students are encouraged to draw their own conclusions by reading key primary documents. Review Both essays are sympathetic to Reagan yet well balanced while also well written. To accompany their essays, the authors have compiled a bibliography and have included 15 brief primary documents, such as excerpts from Reagan's 1981 inaugural address and from his famous 1983 'evil empire' speech. The result, although conceived primarily for use in classrooms, is a good, concise summary of the major issues of the Reagan presidency.--Library Journal John Ehrman and Michael Flamm have provided an excellent guide to the presidency of Ronald Reagan, one that will help readers understand this important and still controversial period in our recent history.--Alan Brinkley, Columbia University This well-conceived and well-constructed volume will be a welcome addition to any syllabus covering Ronald Reagan or the 1980s. The two essays are comprehensive and balanced; the supporting primary source documents are well-chosen and excellent complements to the nuanced arguments. Highly recommended.--Gil Troy, McGill University, author of Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s About the Author John Ehrman is a foreign affairs analyst for the federal government and an independent scholar specializing in modern American conservatism. His books include The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan. Michael W. Flamm is professor of history at Ohio Wesleyan University. He is author of Law and Order: Street Crime, Civil Unrest, and the Crisis of Liberalism in the 1960s, and co-author of Debating the 1960s: Liberal, Conservative, and Radical Perspectives.