--- title: Reaganland: 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 description: Find out why Reaganland by Rick Perlstein is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. canonical: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904266/reaganland/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-11-09T20:11:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:44:38.846Z og:title: 'Reaganland' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 og:description: Here's why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904266/reaganland/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fe35c5e07400f18/698a140c4ee262798e318151/best-books-2020-Reaganland.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'Reaganland' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Reaganland' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 twitter:description: Here's why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fe35c5e07400f18/698a140c4ee262798e318151/best-books-2020-Reaganland.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 09, 2020 # Reaganland by Rick Perlstein by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  Historian Rick Perlstein has traced the rise of modern American conservatism across four weighty tomes. His latest release picks up in the late ’70s, when Ronald Reagan launched a bid for the presidency despite being deemed by many to be too conservative and too old. Perlstein enlivens what could be a dull or rote historical reading with acute character studies and tense faceoffs; he also traces the overarching strategic choices that laid the groundwork for Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump and the Republican party as we know it today. (Trump himself makes an early appearance in the book.) **Buy Now:** _Reaganland_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781476793054 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1476793050/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1476793050&linkId=ee8cd940aa90e394374df7dfa1660f06 "undefined") These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904266/reaganland/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904266/reaganland/"},"headline":"'Reaganland' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020","datePublished":"2020-11-09T20:11:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:44:38.846Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904266/reaganland/","keywords":["E-Commerce","Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fe35c5e07400f18/698a140c4ee262798e318151/best-books-2020-Reaganland.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fe35c5e07400f18/698a140c4ee262798e318151/best-books-2020-Reaganland.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904266/reaganland/","name":"'Reaganland' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020"}}]}] ```