First published 2013
David Stockman served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget during the early Reagan years. He helped design the Reagan Revolution, an ambitious program to slash taxes while shrinking government spending and scope. Stockman witnessed the plan's collapse from the inside. He documents the mathematical errors, political manipulation, and backroom scheming that doomed the initiative. The book reveals how Washington politics undermined fiscal policy. Stockman shows how idealistic economic theories crashed against political realities. His account captures the gap between campaign promises and governing challenges. This insider perspective exposes the mechanics of policy failure at the highest levels of government.
Genres: history, 20th-century, political-science, economics, non-fiction, biography-memoir, government, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: government-bureaucracy, insider-perspective
Setting: Washington
Period: Reagan Administration
464 pages · Paperback · PublicAffairs