Not being a fan of the usual election campaign books, I took this up with low expectations. I just wanted to know something about Ronald Reagan's first campaign for governor. I also suspected that it would be something of a hatchet job on RR. To my pleasant surprise, Matthew Dallek has produced an engaging--even exciting--narrative that is very well balanced. Though he does tend to laud the "responsible liberalism" of Edmund "Pat" Brown, the Democratic incumbent that Reagan unseated, he also fairly portrays the new conservatism and "Creative Society" philosophy of Ronald Reagan and his supporters. I highly recommend this work as essential for understanding the beginnings of the Reagan Revolution. After this, a good read that bookends the subject is John Ehrman's 'The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan.'