Ronald Reagan’s Make-Believe

29/01/2025 1h 5min
Ronald Reagan’s Make-Believe

Listen "Ronald Reagan’s Make-Believe"

Episode Synopsis

Podcast: The LRB Podcast (LS 55 · TOP 0.5% what is this?)Episode: Ronald Reagan’s Make-BelievePub date: 2025-01-23Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationRonald Reagan, as Jackson Lears wrote recently in the LRB, was a ‘telegenic demagogue’ whose ‘emotional appeal was built on white people’s racism’. His presidency left the United States a far more unequal place at home, with a renewed commitment to deadly imperial adventures abroad. Yet he had a gift for making up stories that ‘made America feel good about itself again’. On the latest episode of the LRB podcast, Lears joins Tom to discuss Reagan’s life and self-made legend, from his hardscrabble Midwestern boyhood to the White House by way of Hollywood, and to consider the lasting effects of his presidency.
Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/reaganpod
From the LRB
Subscribe to the LRB: ⁠⁠https://lrb.me/pod⁠⁠
Close Readings podcast: ⁠https://lrb.me/crlrbpod⁠
LRB Audiobooks: ⁠https://lrb.me/audiobookslrbpod⁠
Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: ⁠https://lrb.me/storelrbpod⁠
Get in touch: [email protected] podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The London Review of Books, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

More episodes of the podcast The Cosmopolitan