Ronald Reagan loved to tell stories. Sometimes he used them to break the ice, or to prove a point, but very often he used them to inspire, to uplift, and to remind his listeners of what matters most in life. Recently, in the archives of the Reagan Library, researcher Kiron Skinner unearthed a trove of handwritten Reagan manuscripts from the late 1970s, over 650 in all, which included some priceless examples of Reagan's storytelling abilities. "Stories in His Own Hand" reproduces the best of these deeply personal anecdotes.

Skinner, along with longtime Reagan aides and scholars Annelise and Martin Anderson, has carefully documented the extent of Reagan's manuscripts, which originated as radio transcripts. Earlier, in the bestselling "Reagan, In His Own Hand," the editors compiled a broad range of Reagan's policy-oriented essays from this collection, showing an astonishing breadth of vision concerning nearly every issue he would face as president. Here they reveal a different Ronald Reagan: not the political but the personal man, not the executive but the teacher.

Here is Reagan on men and women, life and death, family and friends. Here is a man who loved to tell a story to make us all stop, listen, and think about what it means to be human.

Ronald Reagan was a prolific letter writer his entire life and his letters reveal a hidden life as a writer of power, grace, and astonishing productivity. They also reveal a man who treasured his friends, took his critics head-on, and loved his family deeply. Now, in what may be the most important collection of Reagan's writings yet, the editors draw from exclusive access to Reagan's complete collection of letters, numbering in the tens of thousands, to show that he was one of the last century's greatest correspondents as well. From his youthful days of financial struggle, through the Hollywood years, his two terms as California governor, and to the extraordinary two-term presidency, Reagan never stopped writing friends, family, supporters, and even opponents. This definitive collection is skilfully edited and annotated by Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson, and it will be must reading for anyone interested in America's 40th president and the times in which he lived.

Hidden in the archives of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for more than a decade, the writings contained in Reagan, In His Own Hand redefine the way we think about American history of the past quarter century and about the fortieth American president. By revealing an active mind wrestling with the problems of a sluggish economy, social pathologies, welfare reform, and the Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union, these never-before-seen documents, many reproduced in his own handwriting, prove Reagan to be both the visionary and intellectual powerhouse behind his administration's landmark policies.