The transformation of American politics usually described as beginning with the election of 1980, Craig Shirley argues, actually began in 1976. In that year former California Governor Ronald Reagan challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford in the Republican primaries and state caucuses, eventually coming within 57 delegates of taking the nomination away from Ford at the Republican National Convention. Shirley describes in intriguing detail the contest between two men and two visions for the soul of the Republican party. With Ford's eventual loss to Democrat Jimmy Carter, Reagan became the front-runner for the Republican nomination in 1980. The rest, as they say, is history....