Hi, and welcome to the homepage for "Tear Down This Myth: How The Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future," published in February 2009 by Free Press, an imprint of Simon And Schuster. The book is the first attempt to look at the toxic effect that a mythologized Ronald Ronald -- pushed for more than a decade by neoconservatives to revive their failing political movement -- has had on American politics, and the link between the near canonization of the 40th president and disastrous policies that are drowning America in red ink even as militarism runs rampant and Wall Street runs amok. It seeks to correct the many distortions about Reagan -- to show that his trickle-down economics of tax cuts for the wealthy didn't save the American economy, that he didn't "win the Cold War," and that he was a divisive president whose approval ratings were only average. Booklist says that "[a]nyone interested inAmerica's immediate future should read this book."
The book is available in major bookstores from coast-to-coast, and can be purchased immediately here from Amazon.com.
Other major booksellers offering "Tear Down This Myth" include Barnes and Noble, Borders, Powell's, the Tatttered Cover, and many others that are listed here. Many great independent bookstores are selling "Tear Down This Myth" -- please support them by shopping there if and when you can. The outstanding Web site Buzzflash offers a copy of the book to its donors.
The official Simon & Schuster homepage for the book is here.
Please consider joining the official Facebook group for "Tear Down This Myth." You can follow Will Bunch (me!) on Facebook and on Twitter. A short online bio is located here. The home page for this blog, Attytood, is here, and this is the homepage of the Philadelphia Daily News, where I am senior writer.
Several excerpts of the book have been posted online:
Salon: "How Republicans Created the Myth of Ronald Reagan."
Attytood: "Why Reagan Still Matters."
Here is my recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times on how Obama can use Reagan's tactics to undo his harmful legacy.
Here's my Q-and-A with Buzzflash.
Earlier publicity for the book has included this Q-and-A with Vanity Fair.com and this radio interview with LiberalOasis. I will continue to update this section as more becomes available.
Finally, here's a video I recorded for Free Press:
Comment removed.
Obama a victim of the myth? Jeez, Will, he absolutely co-opted it to his advantage. Again, the myth is more about leadership style than any substance. It's the same myth we have about FDR, JFK, Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington, each with their own coin to prove it.
Congrats, Will. bp, let go of the anger. You're way more rational and thoughtful when not hurling insults.— RG
Much as I disagree with Will's weak-America agenda, I do find him to be one of the better on-line entertainers in the Philly domain. If he has to peddle half-truths and bitter propaganda to the lefty nutbags to keep his bank account in the black, then I'm all for it. Keep up with the angry, delusional posts that make coming to your blog so much fun!— Mr. Smith- bp, dare you to e-mail Bunch a file sampling your voice and ask him to post it.
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- bp, I think your mom would get upset. Anyway, I double dog dare ya.
- another myth: that Bill Clinton's administration created the economic expansion of the 90s. Reality: he happened to be president during the tech bubble.— Bud Fox
At least a future conservative won't have to go through all the trouble Will did to tear down the Obama myth. Obama is doing a fine job of that on his own.— jmc- Bus is correct, no Clinton revival of the economy without Reagan. It is too bad we haven't seen such an exhaustive study of FDR, who was the cause of many of our economic problems-we will continue to pay for the social security fraud for generatiosn to come, along with other failing policies.— sleepy
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- and here I thought this was going to be about how myth about FDR is leading Americans to bring back his failed policies from the Depression.— dreinterests
yeah whatever Will , and I suppose you also beleive in fairies— PAEnglish- Bud, whatever the myth about the 90s economy, economic conditions drove the dot.com boom, not vice versa.
- "no Clinton revival of the economy without Reagan." . . . Let's get real folks. It wasn't Clinton and it wasn't Reagan. It was Deng Xiao-Ping we can thank.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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