What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era

For teenagers who know nothing of the Reagan years, this is a good introductory account from a second-tier Republican. For those of us who lived through them, it is a banal rehash on the level of the prose one finds in _Newsweek_ or _Time_. The insights are few, too. This reader's view is that the area in which Miss Noonan was involved, the drafting of speeches for the president, is at once trivial and overrated in importance, so I lament that this book will be many people's introduction to Reaganite (as distinguished from Reagoon or Reaganinnie) political thinking and activity; still, it's better than nothing.

Noonan's observations are paradoxical. She has both a keen perception of politicians with their egos, backstabbing and hidden agendas, and at the same time holds a strangely optomistic view toward the future and the American Public. As a speech writer she knows her stuff, and someone who was thinking of getting into this sort of thing would do well to read this book. She details the process of how speeches are constructed and then how their meaning is subsiquently filtered by staff, State Dept., etc., into a conglomeration of colorless mush. The narritive sounds much like something you might hear around a local D.C. watering hole. I get the impression that Noonan might have been happier simply being a poet, but I for one am glad she took her road less traveled. Besides that, I just like her. You will too.

...other than that, this book is absolute drivel. From the moment we are assured that our part in the Vietnam War was 'basically good' right through to the end, Noonan seems to prefer disregarding history or any serious examination of the left. This book is a good portrait of how a conservative's mind works (if you're interested in such a thing, which you probably shouldn't be)

It would be an understatement to say that Peggy Noonan was a fly on the wall of the Reagan White House. Her book shares her innermost feelings and thoughts on being Ronald Reagans head speech writer. If you're a fan of Ronald Reagan you'll love this book. Noonan shares great insight behind some of Reagan's (and later President Bush's) most famous speeches.