SHORTLIST
Cover of Reagan

Reagan

Reagan by Max Boot is one of 2026's most credible books, appearing on 2 of the year's most respected lists, including The New York Times, The Economist, for a Consensus Score of 30 out of 100.

Appears on these lists

Our take

AI-drafted

Boot, a former Republican foreign-policy adviser turned Never Trump critic, brings an outsider's remove to a subject usually handled by partisans on either side, and reviewers have credited the resulting biography with unusual balance: neither hagiography nor takedown. Drawing on newly available archives, he traces how Reagan's Manichean, good-versus-evil worldview, forged in a chaotic childhood and burnished by Hollywood, shaped everything from his sunny public persona to his handling of the Cold War's endgame and the Iran-Contra scandal. Critics have singled out the book's command of context over its prose style; at nearly nine hundred pages it's less a fresh interpretive argument than the most thoroughly documented single-volume Reagan biography to date.

In the press

  • Boot's book enters a crowded field, but stands out for its deep research, lucid prose and command of its subject's broad political and social context.
    The New York Times

How the Consensus Score is calculated

Our Consensus Score is our own transparent editorial metric — not a user rating. It weighs each list by the credibility of its source, how recent the listing is, and any award status. Here is the full breakdown.

SourceAuthorityRecencyAwardContribution
The New York Times1.000.701.00×0.70
The Economist0.950.701.00×0.67
Weighted sum → Score1.3630

Similar consensus books

Because they appear on some of the same lists.

James

Percival Everett

Frequently asked

What lists is Reagan on?

Reagan appears on 2 lists in our 2026 corpus, including The New York Times, The Economist.

What is its Consensus Score?

Reagan has a Consensus Score of 30 out of 100, our transparent editorial measure of how many credible lists agree on it.