A review by skitch41
The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 by Sean Wilentz

3.0

When I first saw that Sean WIlentz, the respected historian of book "The Rise of American Democracy," was publishing a history of the past 30 years of political history, I was very excited and bought it as soon as it was available. Now, having just finished it, I am very disappointed in it. Whereas his previous book was meticulous and painstakingly detail oriented, with nearly one footnote for every paragraph written, this book is short and offers very little in terms of footnotes. Wilentz is also hypercritical of nearly every president since Ford with very little to commend them for. It seems he doesn't have too much of a kind word to say about any of them. This creates a tone of cynicism and hopelessness that seems to be as much a symptom of the times he is trying to put into historical perspective. On the other hand, and by his own admission, this is suppose to be only a general overview of a period of history that has generated very little serious historical reflection and has been hampered by recent Bush administration regulations that have cut off most of the critical historical research into this period, especially the most controversial incidents (i.e. Iran-Contra). In summation, this is a good place to start for the general reader interested in our most recent past, but there probably are, or will be, better and more authoritative works on this period.