Search - A Different Drummer : My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan

Whether it was traveling with Ronald Reagan on endless campaign flights, discussing day-to-day issues in the Oval Office, or surviving the harrowing assassination attempt, former aide and longtime family friend Michael Deaver offers his warm recollections of Ronald Reagan -- governor, president, and friend.

In A Different Drummer, Deaver writes of the Reagan he has known: a man who was shy and deplored talking about himself, who would rather spend a party talking to a laborer than policy wonks; a man whose convictions remained unchanged over the. course of his life, who never used pollsters to decide In's position on issues; a man whose idea of relaxation was riding a horse, fixing fence posts, and chopping wood until his muscles ached and In's hands blistered.

Writing not only of their dizzying highs, Deaver also shares the lows, including the tough times that would test the strength of their friendship. Finally, lie shares a poignant look at Reagan today, as lie battles Alzheimer's disease, and at Nancy Reagan, as she stands by his side in her finest hour.