Synopses & Reviews
Six years in the writing and based on exclusive access to Nancy Reagan's papers, as well as interviews with her, this is the first volume of what is sure to be judged the definitive portrait of Ron and Nancy Reagan's emergence as America's "First Couple," with special emphasis on the duo's social history and career-building alliances.
Ronnie and Nancy: he was born amid modest circumstances in rural Illinois; she grew up in a tony enclave of Chicago in an atmosphere of privilege and high expectations. He would learn early on the value of befriending the monied and powerful...she would become her ex-actress mother's pet project, thrust repeatedly into Hollywood circles and taught over and over again the value of connections. Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis couldn't have been more unlike in their origins, or more alike in their awareness of the value that can be extracted from relationships. Over the course of decades they elevated the social to a kind of art form. Who better to chronicle that journey from obscurity to Hollywood's most talked about couple to ultimate political game players than Vanity Fair writer and ex-Interview Magazine Editor-in-Chief Bob Colacello. In researching this book, Colacello has spent thousands of hours interviewing Nancy Reagan as well as hundreds of Reagan intimates.
Review
"The biography's actual structure is impeccable as the author profiles the two of them individually, in a series of alternating chapters, and then draws their stories together." Booklist