More than 20 years after his inauguration, Ronald Reagan’s presidency remains a great American political mystery. Just how did this one-time “B” movie actor, once almost universally derided, pull it off? What was the relationship between his presidency, his personality, his ideology, and the great successes of the 1980s – the resurgent patriotism, the great prosperity, and the emerging peace with the Soviet Union? And what role did Reagan have in some of the great failures of the period, including Americans’ growing cynicism, deepening alienation, and plunge into selfishness?

Surprisingly, Reagan scholarship remains in its infancy. Too many monographs simply rehash the great debates of the 1980s, either demonizing or eulogizing Reagan, either exaggerating the era’s successes – or failures. Clearly, to understand both Reagan and his times, more work needs to be done about President Reagan and the 1980s.

The lists of sources herein provided are some of the sources consulted for the preparation of my monograph on Ronald Reagan and the 1980s, “Morning Again in America,” to be published soon by Princeton University Press. I am posting these sources as a way of helping colleagues and students probe more deeply into the politics and culture of the 1980s, with the thought that there is so much work to be done, it is best if we don’t reinvent the wheel or duplicate efforts. The information posted on this Website is thanks to the diligent efforts of Bonnie Goodman, a former student who is now a Masters of Library Sciences student at McGill University. We offer these listings in the hope that students and scholars can benefit from our efforts, and that this spirit of constructive collaboration will help us all better understand Ronald Reagan, the 1980s, and the continuing experiment in mass liberty and democracy known as the United States of America.

Professor Gil Troy, Department of History, McGill University