Narrates Ronald Reagan’s rise to and career as governor of California (1966-74), the era when he became an accomplished politician. Reagan’s conservative / populist rhetoric belied pragmatic governance, often made necessary by Democrats controlling the legislature. For example, he raised taxes his first year in office and blocked Eel River development, bucking the establishment. His bipartisan welfare reform also was successful; his record on education reform and the budget (i.e., tax reform) less so. Based on contemporary reporting and augmented by post facto interviews, Canon portrays not only the principal but also the many surrounding figures. Including by a treatment of boyhood, acting, and his presidential campaign, the book adds up to first-rate political biography.