Review by R. Alan Clanton
Thursday Review Editor
Shirley has written a sweeping, comprehensive account of the game-changing presidential campaign of 1980, that moment in the late 20th Century when the old Democratic Party order fell from its once reliable electoral plateau and the new Republican template came into full form. Shirley traces the difficulties of the Carter presidency alongside the re-emergence of a semi-retired Ronald Reagan—seemingly too old to ever run again—and the long, winding process through the GOP primaries. Factoring in the complex demographic shifts and the changing mood of voters, Shirley gives us a detailed inside account of Reagan’s astonishing victory that November—from a deep polling deficit to a landslide which altered the political tectonics for a generation. Newer trade paperback editions include an updated introduction by George Will and a new afterword by Newt Gingrich. This book is a must read for anyone who appreciates contemporary American political history. It is also essential reading for those who revelled in the frequent comparisons of last year’s election to that of Reagan’s great election avalanche in 1980. (ISI Books/Intercollegiate Studies Institute; Wilmington, DE)
