Craig Unger’s latest investigative book, Den of Spies, is important, and not only for its dogged detailing of what one can now reasonably conclude was the stealing of the 1980 presidential election by Republican Ronald Reagan’s campaign team. Before reading the book, I assumed that the main takeaway would come from its provocative subtitle “Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House.” But there is so much more here.
The idea of a 1980 fix now appears to be very probable (at least for me), but, in truth, as a fellow investigative author and documentarian, I came away moved even more by Unger’s personal story of the ups-and-downs, the inexact science and paradoxes of our chosen profession, not to mention the relevance of Reagan’s election to what’s happening today.
