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Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz states at the beginning of his book that Ronald Reagan and his presidency "were so important that they deserve more scholarly attention than they have received."

That is certainly true. One reason Mr. Reagan has not been studied thoroughly enough is that he has proved a slippery subject for biographers. Such fine writers as Edmund Morris and Richard Reeves have found the Reagan persona elusive.

In light of this, Mr. Wilentz has wisely chosen to write not a conventional biography but rather a political history in which Mr. Reagan is the central figure. The Age of Reagan is the story, says Mr. Wilentz, of "how a conservative movement once deemed marginal managed to seize power and hold it, and what the consequences have been."

This is an ambitious undertaking, and Mr. Wilentz is largely, but not entirely, successful. He does a good job of describing the evolution of Reaganism as an alternative to liberal New Deal and Great Society policies. When Mr. Reagan took office in 1981, his administration charted a different course and featured, writes Mr. Wilentz, "its own distinctive blend of dogma, pragmatism, and, above all, mythology."

According to Mr. Wilentz, Mr. Reagan and his lieutenants were committed to "dogmatic deregulation," which contributed to disaster in the savings and loan industry, and "made ideological considerations paramount" in judicial appointments.

But Mr. Reagan was capable of changing his view of politics and the world. Shortly before taking office, Mr. Reagan defined his policy toward the Soviet Union as, "We win, and they lose." But later, notes Mr. Wilentz, he "recognized when the Cold War was ending, even though foreign policy experts within his administration, and conservative critics outside, refused to believe it."

As his political foe Edward Kennedy observed, writes Mr. Wilentz, Mr. Reagan "was an effective president because he took ideas seriously." That sometimes hidden intellectual curiosity, plus personal charm and instinctive understanding of Americans' political psychology, distinguished the Reagan presidency from the tenures of other Republican presidents such as Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.

The Age of Reagan includes much to ponder, but Mr. Wilentz could have more explicitly explained the extent of Mr. Reagan's political legacy. Even Bill Clinton, when he stated in his 1996 State of the Union speech that "the era of big government is over," showed that he understood the appeal of Reaganism. Only in his critique of George W. Bush's presidency does Mr. Wilentz draw clear lines back to the Reagan administration.

Another problem is that even at more than 450 pages, The Age of Reagan is too brief in its analyses of important matters such as various presidential campaigns. There are also strange omissions. For instance, Mr. Wilentz rightly characterizes the 1992 Republican National Convention as disastrous, featuring as it did Patrick Buchanan's speech proclaiming, "There is a religious war going on in our country." But he makes no mention of Ronald Reagan's optimistic, uplifting speech at that same convention.

That the former president was so out of tune with his party in 1992 underscored his own strengths and foreshadowed the demise of George H.W. Bush's re-election campaign that year.

Nevertheless, Mr. Wilentz performs a valuable service by bringing his thoughtful, scholarly approach to this study of the man he calls "the single most important political figure of the age." Other historians who examine the age of Reagan have much to work with.

Philip Seib is professor of journalism and public diplomacy at the University of Southern California.

Sean Wilentz

(HarperCollins, $27.95)

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