I am busily developing a new course for SEU called “Ronald Reagan and Modern American Conservatism.” I hope to teach it next spring. It will be an ambitious project because there is so much to include. Originally, I had decided to do a course on Reagan only, but the more I thought about it, I realized I cannot treat him separately from the development of the conservative movement. Therefore, one of the books in the course will be George Nash’s The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945. It will be a challenging book for some of the students, but well worth it if they persevere. I will also use Reagan’s personal memoir, An American Life. Students will then choose two more books from a list of possibilities I will give them and write critiques of both. Overall, they should come away from this course with a well-rounded view of how conservatives, and Reagan in particular, have affected policy and culture.
Reagan Addressing the American People on the Economy
You say Nash’s book will be a challenge to some students? More so than Witness? It sounds like it will be an interesting course. I’ll be very tempted to take that one.
This is one of the very few occasions when I would counsel to give in to temptation!