No historian has done a better job of chronicling Ronald Reagan’s rise to power than Craig Shirley. As always, Shirley is a perfect antidote to the “court historians” who never really “got” Reagan. Shirley’s books on Reagan’s 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns, Reagan’s Revolution and Rendezvous With Destiny, are the gold standard in describing the Gipper’s ascendence and successful capture of the White House.