The One with Greatness

177. Title & Author: Greatness: Reagan, Churchill & The Making of Extraordinary Leaders by Steven F. Hayward (194 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Biography, History, & Politics

Completed: 6 February 2011

Summary & Review:

Steven F. Hayward, while writing his two volume biography on Reagan, began noticing what he saw as striking similarities in the lives, both personal and political, of Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. In this short book he explores those in chapters covering the mens' faiths, paths to conservatism, biographical details, and governing policies.

I must say, first of all, that I enjoyed this book. Like many others on the political Right, I have always admired both of these men, i.e. Reagan and Churchill, so I found some of the details Hayward included to be quite interesting. But, as far as the premise that these men lead “parallel lives” separated by a few decades was not that convincing to me. Many of the similarities were tenuous at best. This only hurt the book, however, if the reader was truly set on being convinced that these two great statesmen were twins separated by time and space. If the reader was more interested in learning about the lives of two of the last century’s most important leaders, then this book serves that purpose just fine.

There is, of course, one incredibly important similarity in the lives of Reagan and Churchill. They lived during extraordinary times when the world faced grave dangers, and both men rose to the challenge. Serendipitously, I finished this book on the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth. America could use another leader with his integrity, principles, and courage. R.I.P. Dutch.

Thank you to my lovely wife who gave me this book as a Christmas 2010 present.

Rating: 7.0