Unable to lift the nation’s spirits, Carter’s “Scrooge” was no match for Reagan’s “Santa Claus. His telegenic charisma, unapologetic patriotism (“Make America great again” became a campaign slogan) and sanguine vision overwhelmed an incumbent prone to scolding the public for its profligate ways. Rick Perlstein is the author of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, winner of the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book. Get 50 off this audiobook at the AudiobooksNow online audio. Critics pounced on his gaffes questioning evolution and asserting that vegetation caused pollution, but, as with Trump, Reagan’s backers cared little about these blunders or his nescience over public affairs. Download or stream Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus Kindle Edition by Rick Perlstein (Author) Format: Kindle Edition 391 ratings Kindle 2.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook 0.00 Free with your Audible trial Acclaimed historian Rick Perlstein chronicles the rise of the conservative movement in the liberal 1960s. But he made you want to stand right alongside him and shake your fist at the same things he was shaking his fist at. Reagan’s biggest handicap was his tendency to blurt mistakes and falsehoods - one commentator said he had a “very loose hold on the real world around him” - when going off-script. Preview Before the Stormby Rick Perlstein Before the Storm Quotes Showing 1-30 of 33 Ronald Reagan was just as angry. Though he, too, strove to steer the party away from the “country club big business image” epitomized by Nelson Rockefeller, Reagan never projected a cutthroat persona, earning the public’s affection over Carter, who came off as increasingly coldhearted.

Conservatives were fortunate to have Reagan serve as the prophet delivering their radical message.

Before the storm rick perlstein