The Gipper's former deputy chief of staff as well as the author of Nancy
and A Different Drummer: My 30 Years with Ronald Reagan
, the ever-faithful Deaver continues his flame tending with this anthology, which solicits first-person encomiums on the lasting impact of Reaganology. It's a pretty impressive roster: Bill Frist, Bob Dole, Rick Santorum, Henry Hyde, Phil Gramm, Grover Norquist, Orrin Hatch and Chuck Hagel all check in among elected officials; Robert Novak, P.J. O'Rourke, G. Gordon Liddy and Mona Charen among theorists and commentators. Of the 54 contributors, five are women. Very few of the pieces feel fresh; most feel like they've passed through any number of hands before a final vet. The pols write as if on the stump; the wingers as if the fate of the world were hanging in the balance of their every measured phrase: "I am a conservative because all other political philosophies have failed," writes Donald J. Devine, "And the poor, modern world badly needs the vision of a positive future that only conservatism can provide." Progressives will beg to differ, but this book is more about preaching to the choir and rallying the troops than convincing skeptics. (On sale June 24)
