Two things are of utmost importance to know before reading this biography of Ronald Reagan by Edmund Morris, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Theodore Roosevelt. Firstly, this is an authorized biography, meaning that the subject gave his consent and approval to Morris. The bulk of biographies that have been published are unauthorized. Some make such a big deal of this that they slap “Unauthorized” on the cover as it were synonymous with giving the real unvarnished story not hindered by interference from the subject. In that sense, “an unauthorized biography” has almost taken on a salacious connotation; if not approved by the subject, then surely that means there will be some gossipy dirt. While it is true that an unauthorized biography is more likely to take a negative viewpoint or at least include some negative aspects from the subject’s life, it does not qualify it immediately as more or less factual. Meanwhile, just because a writer has been officially tasked with writing the “authorized” story of an individual, that does not mean it is any more or less factual. On the other hand, when the authorization extends to the limit given writers like Morris—who gained access to friends and family and members of Regan’s White House staff—it usually translates into information that unauthorized writers simply cannot get.
Now for the second thing that needs to be known. Despite being the “officially sanctioned” biography of Ronald Reagan, the book was greeted with contempt by some of those close to Reagan and controversy by reviewers and readers. The reason both reactions is the audaciously experimental technique which Morris applied to writing the book. Standing in direct contrast to all his previous biographical works—including the Pulitzer-winner for Teddy Roosevelt—Morris adopts a conceit that goes against the most basic fundamental premise of the biography, especially the authorized biography: facts first and facts only.
Of course, every biography has factual inaccuracies; some intended, some unintended, some purposely, some purposely manufactured without the author’s collusion. What just about every other serious biography of a major historical figure lacks, however, is a factually misleading premise. The premise of this book is that the narrator is a fictional construct of the author who is capable of remembering things from Reagan’s past which he not only did not actually witness, but in some cases could not because he was not even born yet. Morris and his publisher insist that no facts were made up; that when the narrator is personally recalling a conversation or an incident, he is merely transforming another’s recollection into the narrator’s own or else creating a storytelling device out of public domain factual knowledge.
That Morris and his publisher are being honest here is best served by the fact that the negative reaction to the book both by those who actually knew Reagan and book reviewers focuses on the creative decision of the fictional narrator rather than any lapse in factual accounting. In other words, those who dislike the book do so because of how it was written, not because of what was written.
There is a flip side to this negative reaction, of course. Ultimately, the question comes down to whether the literary conceit of the fictional narrator is a gimmick that doesn’t work, a gimmick that works but distracts, or works because it is isn’t a gimmick. That will be for each reader to determine on an individual basis, but one thing is absolutely certain. The conversational tone of the writing has the transformative effect of making the reading experience unlike of even the most entertaining biographies. While it is true that one has to keep a vigilant eye out for getting sucked into forgetting that the narrator isn’t really real, and while that can occasionally be a distraction, ultimately reading this biography of Reagan does assume the experience of reading what would one would imagine a long-time friend of Ronald Reagan might have published. Morris adopts exactly the right tone at all times to make it believable that this narrator is a person who could have enjoyed a lifetime relationship with the actor-turned-President.
