REAGAN'S WAR tells the story of Ronald Reagan's personal and political journey as an ami-communist. Beginning with his days inHollywood and extending through his presidency, the book is based on private diaries and secret documents obtained from archives in Russia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the United States-many of them still classified Top Secret. Schweizer's book is therefore also a history of the Cold War and a detailed critique of its conduct by Nixon. Ford and Carter, all of whom were remarkably soft on the Soviets Detente helped the Soviet Union survive and by 1980 the Soviets believed they would win. Reagan made a strong departure from this passive tradition, reversing the direction of US policy and vigorously prosecuting the Cold War as a kind of personal crusade.The book begins with Reagan's days in Hollywood, his involvement with anti-communist liberals such as James Roosevelt and Olivia De Havilland, and his role as a secret informer for the FBI. It then chronicles his move from a containment anti-communist in the mold of Harry Truman to an advocate of rolling back Soviet power. By the late 1960s he was forcefully calling for the overthrow of the Soviet Union and the destruction of the Berlin Wall. Reagan's criticism of detente along with his earlier work in Hollywood led Moscow to closely watch the emerging national politician. By the time he was elected president. Soviet officials had concluded that he represented a real and genuine threat to their interests. They were right- using internal Reagan Administration documents still classified or obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.REAGAN'S WAR shows for the first time how Ronald Reagan personally mapped out and directed a successful campaign to bankrupt the Soviet Union and wage an economic and political war against Moscow.