Books like What I Saw at the Revolution by Peggy Noonan

A former senator argues for a politics of faith, inclusiveness, and justice, examining money, media, economic insecurity, racial tensions, and global threats while urging a return to constitutional principles to heal America.

David Brooks examines the shift from external accolades to internal virtues, using historical leaders to show how humility, self‑discipline, and moral depth guide true character and life fulfillment.

Witty, incisive, at times prophetic, and always original, this collection offers the best of Peggy Noonan's writing. The book travels the path of her remarkable career, showing how she became one of the most influential voices in America. It begins with an essay about Noonan's motivations as a writer and thinker, followed by a personal talk on the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded and the drafting of the speech Ronald Reagan would soon deliver. Then come chapters such as "People I miss, salutes to Tim Russert, Joan Rivers, Margaret Thatcher, and others; "Making trouble," Noonan's sharpest, funniest, and most critical columns about Democrats and Republicans, the idiocracy of government, and Beltway disconnect; "I just called to say I love you," her writing in the wake of 9-11, and clear-eyed foresight on what lay ahead in terms of war and sacrifice; "The loneliest president since Nixon," racking hope and change as it became disillusionment and disappointment with President Obama; and other sections where Noonan discerns the mood of the country, the melodrama of the historic 2008 election, her battles with the Catholic Church, and lighter meditations on baseball, a snowy afternoon in Brooklyn, and motherhood. Annotated throughout, The Time of our Lives articulates Noonan's conservative vision and provides readers with a majestic portrait of American life.--Adapted from book jacket.

H. W. Brands establishes Ronald Reagan as one of the two great presidents of the twentieth century, a true peer to Franklin Roosevelt. Reagan is an irresistible portrait of an underestimated politician whose pragmatic leadership and steadfast vision transformed the nation.

"No one has ever captured Ronald Reagan like Peggy Noonan. In When Character Was King, Noonan brings her own reflections on Reagan to bear as well as new stories - from Presidents George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, his Secret Service men and White House colleagues, his wife, his daughter Patti Davis, and his close friends - to reveal the true nature of a man even his opponents now view as a maker of big history. Marked by incisive wit and elegant prose, When Character Was King will both enlighten and move readers. It may well be the last word on Ronald Reagan, not only as a leader but as a man."--BOOK JACKET.