Getting into the game : the pre-presidential rhetoric of Ronald Reagan /

This book contains useful information about Ronald Reagan as a rhetor but suffers from inadequate analytic context and substantive depth. Stuckey analyzes Reagan's pre-presidential speeches in a series of chapters, each organized to present a brief factual background of the period, the contours of his rhetorical style, and an analysis of a representative speech. The work fails to examine adequately the broader political environment in which Reagan operated or his personal abilities as a spokesperson, both of which are essential to assessing his rhetorical success. Only in the conclusion does the author ruminate briefly about such matters, bemoaning the flight of substance from political rhetoric. The actual text numbers a mere 81 pages; the book does include a useful appendix on rhetorical analysis. Appropriate only for undergraduate libraries with exhaustive collections in American politics. -S. E. Schier, Carleton College