Writers from California: Ronald Reagan, Robert A. Heinlein, Donald Knuth, Dr. Seuss, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ken Kesey, John Steinbeck

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 189. Chapters: Ronald Reagan, L. Ron Hubbard, Herbert Hoover, John Muir, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert Bloch, Dr. Seuss, Tom Waits, George Carlin, J. Michael Straczynski, Robert McNamara, John Steinbeck, Valerie Solanas, Anne Rice, Anita Loos, Zane Grey, David Foster Wallace, Pauline Kael, Upton Sinclair, Dinesh D'Souza, Ben Stein, M. F. K. Fisher, Kamala Harris, Jack LaLanne, Maria Shriver, James Wesley Rawles, Jack Vance, Orson Scott Card, Tony Curtis, Ronald D. Moore, Betty Ford. Excerpt: Ronald Wilson Reagan (; February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981-89). Prior to that, he was the 33rd Governor of California (1967-75), and a radio, film and television actor. Born in Tampico, Illinois, and raised in Dixon, Reagan was educated at Eureka College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. After graduating, Reagan moved first to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster and then, in 1937, to Los Angeles where he began a career as an actor, first in films and later television. Some of his most notable films include Knute Rockne, All American (1940), Kings Row (1942), and Bedtime for Bonzo (1951). Reagan served as President of the Screen Actors Guild and later as a spokesman for General Electric (GE); his start in politics occurred during his work for GE. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, his positions began shifting rightward in the 1950s, and he switched to the Republican Party in 1962. After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and general election in 1980, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter. As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics," advocated reducing tax rates to spur economic growth, controlling the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy, and reducing government spending. In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, took a hard line against labor unions, and ordered an invasion of Grenada. He was re-elected in a landslide in 1984, proclaiming that it was "Morning in America." His second term was primarily marked by foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold War, the 1986 bombing of