It was a message that aggrieved conservatives (and, curiously, more than a few Democrats) found irresistible. Reagan's rhetorical bridge - the one that connected him with millions of likeminded voters, and later delivered him to the White House - was built on a foundation of uncompromising patriotism and smoldering resentment. But as Perlstein demonstrates in this comprehensive deconstruction of Reagan's appeal, he assuredly was. The man who later characterized the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire' would have blanched at the notion that he was borrowing from the former Soviet leader's strategic playbook. You build an imaginary bridge over the imaginary river.' 'The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan' derives its title from a word of counsel Nikita Khrushchev once offered to Richard Nixon: 'If the people believe there's an imaginary river out there, you don't tell them there's no river there. Why was a would-be president lecturing his listeners about a trivial bit of scientific research? In the parlance of Rick Perlstein's latest invaluable book about the modern conservative movement, Reagan had set about a major bridge-building project.

Reagan started his public life in the '30s as a broadcaster, but this sounded more like a big-screen thriller he never got the chance to make during his acting days: They came from beyond the Iron Curtain! Sexually adventurous amphibians - and the Washington insiders who love them! 'If you're not familiar with the term 'boondoggle,' ' he said during his first audio op-ed, 'consider the fact that our federal government recently underwrote the cost of a study dealing with Polish bisexual frogs.' In January 1975, days after completing an eight-year run as California's governor, Ronald Reagan launched a series of syndicated radio commentaries. By Rick Perlstein (Simon & Schuster 856 pages $37.50)

The invisible bridge perlstein