My Father at 100

(note: this was among my to-be-reviewed books that ended up in the hands of the wrong people when moving 4/1/18 - see https://btripp-books.livejournal.com/206862.html for details - I did brief reviews of these lost books on recall)
(finished 01/12/18)
I was a bit hesitant to get into this, as I'd heard that, unlike other reviews, Ron Jr. had been “not too kind” in addressing his father's legacy. I was pleased to find that, while not wholly glowing about the elder Reagan, the book was in no means an attack piece. In fact, the first part of the book was more of a genealogical survey of how the family found its way from Ireland, and got established in the U.S., before tracing his dad's growing up in various contexts, from sports to early show more jobs (including pics of R.R. as a teenage lifeguard), to discovering acting. What stood out most to me were tales of his early years, with the younger Reagan doing road trips to experience the places where his father was from. show less

This is a sensitive, if somewhat bitter sweet biography of a very public, political President. Loving, but not emotionally close, Reagan's son here pens a conflict-ridden account of his father at 100 years.

I heard son Ron's CSpan talk when the book came out and could not resist it. I have always been interested in this kid when he did the Risky Business spoof on SNL. Much of the text is right off the tape recorder, nothing fancy, but it does give an interesting view of this president's life from another point of view and I believe he did some originila research on a bit of geneology.

What a lovely book! It is like walking along side a family and learning real and honest characters. This is what a memoir should be! Very good book- I so recommend it.