Book Recommendation: Greatness

Greatness by Stephen Hayward
While work on his second volume on Ronald Reagan and his influence on late 20th century politics dragged on (the book was nearly 10 years in the making and about 3 years late to press), Stephen Hayward discovered that he was spending a good portion of the book reflecting on the statesmanship skills that Reagan had and how they were similar to those possessed by Winston Churchill (whom he had already written about). Someone suggested that instead of writing a chapter on the similarities, Hayward turn these musings into a book, which is how Greatness came about to fill the gap in between the first and second Age of Reagan books (he also wrote a book about Jimmy Carter during the interim, inspired by his research into Carter's presidency for the first Reagan volume).

I was amazed at how many similarities these two great leaders of the 20th century shared, from childhood through adulthood and leading two of the greatest nations in the world through extraordinarily rough times. They both had rather inauspicious beginnings to their political careers (Churchill demonstrating for students to be able to continue to visit the local burlesque house; Reagan leading a student strike against budget cuts at his college) and switched political allegiances at least once (Churchill actually switched back later in life; Reagan famously proclaimed "the Democrat Party left me"). Both were fierce opponents of communism who developed friendly personal relationships with the opposition leaders of their times (Churchill with Stalin; Reagan with Gorbachev). Churchill proclaimed the beginning of the Cold War in 1946 with his "Iron Curtain" speech in Missouri; Reagan was instrumental in ending the cold war, with famous speeches to Britain's Parliament and in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

In the end, this book barely scratches the surface of either of these men, but it has led me to more fully appreciate them both because of their similarities...and it has made me wish to delve more deeply into their lives. I have now completed both volumes of Hayward "Age of Reagan" and will look into reading a biography of Churchill later this year. In the original hardcover, I can't say that this book would have been worth $25, but in paperback in definitely justified its $13 price tag (far less on Amazon as of this writing).