New ‘Revelatory’ Ronald Reagan Biography To Publish This Fall

Reagan: His Life and Legend, written by historian and Washington Post columnist Max Boot, will be published this fall from Liveright Publishing, an imprint of W,W, Norton & Company, per a statement shared with PEOPLE.

The extensive, 880-page account and “revelatory portrait” will provide a thorough look into the life of the 40th president, who served two terms from 1981 to 1989. Reagan died at age 93 from complications related to Alzheimer’s in 2004.

Drawing from nearly 100 new interviews from Reagan’s aides and family members, as well as previously unavailable archives, the book delves into Regan’s complicated legacy, from his Midwestern beginnings to his career as a Hollywood actor. During his tenure as the president of the Screen Actors Guild of America (SAG), Reagan testified against Communism and provided the FBI with a list of people he believed to be Communists.

Reagan: His Life and Legend will also touch upon crucial moments from throughout the Reagan era, such as the end of the Cold War, the Iran-Contra affair and the trickle-down economics policy. The book will also include “groundbreaking” insight into why Reagan left the Democratic Party, becoming a registered Republican in 1962.

Boots, whose bestselling book The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography, looks at Reagan’s presidency through a modern lens, examining its similarities and differences against that of former President Donald Trump.

“This comprehensive biography—relying on a decade of research, unearthed records and revealing interviews—separates man from myth, offering a compelling and clear-eyed portrait,” says author Karen Tumulty in early praise for the book.

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