What I Saw at the Revolution

Though her politics, her insane desire for social progress to reverse, and her obvious antipathy for anyone with a college degree make me want to chop off my hands and bleed to death, this is still a useful, educational, and yes, witty and well written account of the Reagan White House - most particularly in regards to the art of writing in a political fishbowl.

Peggy Noonan's book, What I Saw at the Revolution, details her experiences under the Reagan administration as a speechwriter. Peggy Noonan before her career at the White House was at CBS writing scripts for the radio shows. Her rise during the White House under the Reagen administration was remarkable. Noonan shows herself and admits to being a Conservative- evidence threads itself throughout the book aside from her admission.
Though her personal career was interesting, the book showed little understanding of the administration and the workings of the White House. In one paragraph, she shows depth and understanding of Reagan and his methods and in the very next shows how little she understood. Though Peggy seemed to not have a comprehensive understanding of President Reagan, she was able to communicate the American presidency is more than one person leading a nation and more of a group of individuals with different agendas operating within one organization that happens to have a figurehead with a driving ideal. Her accounts showed how much the President was a person within the cogs rather than a driving force within the American government. Peggy recognized while working at the White House not everything was what it seemed to the American public and much more of it was a facade. Leadership seemed to not emanate from the president if Noonan's account is taken as the only view of the Reagan presidency. One can only assume that Reagan was a leader after reading Peggy Noonan's book for it detailed very little of his personal leadership style and methods.
Peggy Noonan during the second Reagan campaign blamed the television for the presidential move to acting or pretense- stating that television has changed the nature of presidential actions and campaigns. During her tenure under Reagan wrote his speech following the Challenger explosion. Her personal working methods within the White House were those expected of a presidential speechwriter- a person who should strive to help a president find the words to help translate to the public the work that he was doing behind closed doors. Despite this there were at times where her working actions would have a note of arrogance.
The end of the book details Peggy Noonan's departure from the Reagan administration and transition to working with George H.W. Bush. Noonan left the Reagan office when she felt speechwriters were no longer able to carry out the purpose of their job in its original purpose. It is only towards the very last pages of the book that the reader learns anything of note of Noonan's personal life; she is married and divorced within the same sentence.
What I Saw At The Revolution shared little comprehensive details of the Reagan administration and more guidance regarding the navigation of being a speechwriter in a highly political environment- one that transcends Republican and Democrat issues and more personal agendas and affairs. Other summaries might denote this book as humorous and insightful to the Reagan administration. Rather this book shows how one person within the White House sees so little of the matters of the president. Peggy Noonan's book described how distanced the White House the speechwriters are from the president despite the fact that they help put words in the president's mouth that help advance their political agendas. What revolution was seen during the experiences she noted in the book is nuanced - perhaps this reader missed it between the pages. Her strongest suit throughout the book and her career is clearly her ability to use language and a well-rounded knowledge of culture and literature to her benefit.