Way Out There In the Blue
Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War
By Frances FitzGerald
(Simon & Schuster, Paperback, 9780743200233, 592pp.)
Publication Date: March 12, 2001
Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Hardcover
Categories: Government - U.S. Government, Political History, United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)
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Using the Star Wars missile defense program as a magnifying glass on his presidency, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Frances FitzGerald gives us a wholly original portrait of Ronald Reagan. Drawing on extensive research, FitzGerald shows how Reagan managed to get billions in funding for a program that was technologically impossible by exploiting the fears of the American public. The Reagan who emerges from FitzGerald's book was a gifted politician with a deep understanding of the national psyche, and an executive almost totally disengaged from the policies of his administration. Both appalling and funny, Way Out There in the Blue is the most penetrating study of Reagan's presidency to date.
Frances Fitzgerald is the acclaimed author of America Revised and Cities on a Hill. Her study of the Vietnam War, Fire in the Lake, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. She lives in New York City.
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Using Star Wars -- the so-called Strategic Defense Initiative -- as the focus, Frances FitzGerald draws a brilliantly perceptive and illuminating portrait of Ronald Reagan as a president and as a man. Way Out There in the Blue is a remarkable study in contemporary history.
Joan Didion Through her deep understanding of the language of the evangelical tradition and the power of American exceptionalism, Frances FitzGerald has finally addressed and definitively answered the riddle of the Reagan years. This is a brilliant work of historical analysis.
Garry Wills SDI tests miss their target, but this book does not. If anything can break the enchantment with Reagan's most dubious legacy, FitzGerald's sharp analysis will.
Ronald Steel Through the lens of Ronald Reagan and his visions of a celestial defense, Frances FitzGerald has, with wit, verve, and stunning insight, drawn a dramatic narrative that puts into new perspective the perilous final years of the Cold War. Like her earlier Fire in the Lake, this pathbreaking book will change the way we think about one of the crucial events of our time.
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