Audiobook Review -- When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan

On the road trip to and from Florida I enjoyed the audiobook version of When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan, who wrote speeches for him during his White House years. Noonan recounts her own transition from a cynical White House staffer rolling her eyes behind the back of "the old man" to someone profoundly grateful to have known one of the great figures of the late twentieth century. Like many Reagan biographers, she depicts Reagan as a kindly, yet powerful and decisive man with a conviction that Communism is an evil force in the world and should be treated accordingly. Toward the end of the story she recalls a sad final meeting with the President as he suffered from Alzheimer's Disease and could not recall who she was when she brought her young son to meet him in California.

I was in college during the Reagan years, and it is interesting now to read in more detail about what was going on in the world during that time. I was studying Russian then and was interested in the changes that were coming about in what was then the Soviet Union under Mikail Gorbachev. I especially enjoyed Noonan's account of Reagan's negotiations and interaction with Gorbachev which set in motion events that would ultimately bring an end to the Soviet Union.