Reaganland: America's Right Turn, 1976-1980

Who knew that the finest chronicler of the modern conservative movement would be a writer from the left? Or that his four massive volumes of history, taking us from Goldwater's landslide defeat to Reagan's landslide victory, would be so incredibly entertaining? Perlstein's method is full immersion: a moment-by-moment recounting of political news and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, which in this case means the rollercoaster of hope and malaise of the Carter presidency and the rise of direct-mail politics and the Christian right that brought us the elderly ascent of the Gipper. Reaganland may be the finale of Perlstein's epic, but as we know, the story was just beginning, and you'll find the echoes of our current times deafening.