Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All

Today's political scene looks nothing like it did thirty years ago, and that is due mostly to Reagan's monumental reshaping of the Republican party. What few people realize, however, is that Reagan's revolution did not begin when he took office in 1980, but in his failed presidential challenge to Gerald Ford in 1975-1976. This is the remarkable story of that historic campaign-one that, as Reagan put it, turned a party of "pale pastels" into a national party of "bold colors." Featuring interviews with a myriad of politicos, journalists, insiders, and observers, Craig Shirley relays intriguing, never-before-told anecdotes about Reagan, his staff, the campaign, the media, and the national parties and shows how Reagan, instead of following the lead of the ever-weakening Republican party, brought the party to him and almost single-handedly revived it.

Craig Shirley is the author of four critically praised bestsellers about Ronald Reagan, Reagan's Revolution, Rendezvous with Destiny, Last Act, and Reagan Rising. His book December 1941 appeared multiple times on the New York Times bestseller list. Shirley is chairman of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs and is a widely sought-after speaker and commentator. The Visiting Reagan Scholar at Eureka College, Shirley is on the Board of Governors of the Reagan Ranch and lectures frequently at the Reagan Library, and he has written extensively for Newsmax, The Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, the Washington Times, the Los Angeles Times, Townhall, Breitbart, National Review, LifeZette, CNS, and many other publications. Considered one of the foremost public intellectuals on the history of conservatism in America, Shirley also wrote Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother, which won the People's Choice Award from the Library of Virginia. He is now working on The Search for Reagan and an examination of the Donald Trump presidency titled American Prometheus.