CRB: Presidential library

We are winding down our preview of the new (Fall) issue of the Claremont Review of Books with our friend Tevi Troy’s review of Craig Fehrman’s Author In Chief: The Untold Story or our Presidents and the Books They Wrote. The review is short. It is educational. It is entertaining.

It even made me laugh: “Ronald Reagan left office as a popular president beloved by his supporters. Yet he phoned in the writing of Ronald Reagan: An American Life (1990), and readers could tell: the ghost-written volume lacked his authentic voice.” Tevi adds:

Reagan himself even joked about the book’s authorship, saying at a book launch press conference, “I hear it’s terrific. Maybe someday I’ll read it.” Funny perhaps, but not exactly what publishers want to hear from a multi-million-dollar author.

Tevi is himself a presidential historian. His review presents another case in which the book is perfectly matched with the reviewer. Tevi’s review is “Presidential library.”

We wind up our CRB preview tomorrow with a bonus review by our own Steve Hayward, yet another case…

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