| Becoming Ronald Reagan: The Rise of a Conservative Icon Subjects: Reagan Ronald; Reagan Ronald -- Childhood and youth; Motion picture actors and actresses -- United States -- Biography; Governors -- California -- Biography; Dixon (Ill.) -- Biography; In the 1960s transitioning from acting to politics was rare. Ronald Reagan was not the first to do it, but he was the first to jump from the screen to the stump and on to credibility as a presidential contender. Reagan's transformation from struggling liberal actor to influential conservative spokesman in five years--and then to the California governorship six years later--is a remarkable and compelling story. Robert Mann is a professor and holds the Manship Chair in Journalism at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. He is the author of numerous books, including Daisy Petals and Mushroom Clouds: LBJ, Barry Goldwater, and the Ad That Changed American Politics , named one of the best political books of 2011 by the Washington Post . |