Reagan
the Hollywood years
Ronald Reagan was one of the most powerful and popular American presidents. The key to understanding his political success and the remarkable likability and effortless charisma that made it possible is hidden in his early years as a Hollywood movie star.Other biographers and Reagan in his two memoirs have skimmed over the thirty years he spent as an actor, union activist, and ladies' man. Now, for the first time, in this highly entertaining and provocative new work, acclaimed film critic and historian Marc Eliot reveals the truth of those formative years and presents a far different and infinitely more detailed portrait of Reagan than ever before. Based on original research and never-before-published interviews, documents, and other materials, Eliot sheds new light on Reagan's film and television work opposite some of the most talented women of the time, including Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, and Ginger Rogers; his starlet-strewn bachelor days when his name was linked with Lana Turner and Susan Hayward; his first, rocky marriage to actress Jane Wyman and his career-making second marriage to Nancy Davis; his controversial eight years as the president of the Screen Actors Guild; his friendships with Jimmy Stewart and William Holden; his place in the "Irish Mafia" alongside Pat O'Brien, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn; and the crucial role of super-agent Lew Wasserman, who was instrumental in developing the persona that would prove essential to Reagan's future as a world leader.Set against the glamorous and often combative background of Hollywood's celebrated Golden Age, Eliot's biography provides an exceptionally nuanced examination of the man and uncovers the startling origins of the legend.From the Hardcover edition.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Nonfiction · Fiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest warfare and conflict. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Dark tone · Steady pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3074-0512-8
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL16754142M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
- Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
More Nonfiction books
These matches combine shared categories with author, publication-era, and reading-length signals.
In Defense of Globalization
by Jagdish Bhagwati
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Pin Down
by Teresa Cooper
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Prudence (Historical Romance)
by Elizabeth Bailey
Why it fits: shares Fiction and Nonfiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Science, Technology And The German Cultural Imagination
by ENGLAND) FRAGILE TRADITION (2002 CAMBRIDGE, ENGL FRAGILE TRADITION (2002 CAMBRIDGE, David R. Midgley
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Steel Trapp
by Ridley Pearson
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
The Boar Stone
by Jules Watson
Why it fits: shares Fiction and Nonfiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.