num_pages: 592
description: 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.
language: English
title: Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War
titlecomplete: Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War
genres: History, Presidents, International Relations, United States, American History, War, Politics, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 112
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: History, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
category: Current Interest, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: General Nonfiction
publisher: Simon & Schuster