Review 58: Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (Edmund Morris)

A re-imagining of the genre of biography applied skillfully to the 'film' of RR. This genre is not so new really: it fits into the class of historical fiction. Often this is frustrating, sometimes entertaining, and occasionally brilliant. In this case the genre (historical fiction) suits the man, and C.S. Lewis would approve, believing as he did that form and content are inseparable. At times Morris condemns bitterly and visciously; often he admires begrudgingly (enviously? see character of Paul Rae). The mild perversion in his earlier classic 'The Rise of TR' is in full view here. He suspects Reagan of being a hollow man, but his work on Reagan is open to the same criticism; it is hollow in parts, lacking insight, lacking real engagament; Morris skimps on enormous sections of RR's presidency.