I don’t quite understand myself lately, but I have been asking myself how does this or that make me feel? Is it because feeling is most important or just the tangent I am on at the time? I dunno, but this review is going to be written with me asking myself that very question as it pertains to my experience of reading “Rawhide Down”
I started the book trying to gage my feelings meter as I took in the title, cover photo and liner notes. All together, I went from melodrama to bio to chronology in ten minutes without knowing what to expect once I started taking in the real story which encompasses the first 229 pages of this 300 plus page work. As I continued to read I continued to experience the same varying sensations. Some paragraphs romanticized the president, first lady and his term, while other pages served as precise sequence and synchronization of the events on that day, ranging from the shooters preparations to the triage of the assassination attempt and collateral damage.
The writing was somewhat different than I am used to. The author was clear and to the point but also found time to interject Camelot-ish descriptive regarding Ronald Reagan, Nancy and his affair with the public. I early on wanted to rebel against this author trying to make me like the former President but by the time his entourage arrived at the hospital I was wishing I were there to lead the blocking as he “entered the Hospital under his own power”
I am not a Reagan supporter or supporter of any higher official on an active basis. I guess its my issue I have for authority figures. But before this story was finished, I felt for all things presidential. I felt for the men charged with protecting the Man and the Office of the Presidency, I felt for Nancy; I felt for the other wounded victims; I felt for the Doctors, Nurses, Staffers; I felt for America not knowing; and I also felt for the Shooter. (Reviewed by John S.)
"Rawhide Down" by Del Quentin Wilber
www.henryholt.com
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