European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 07, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Biographer finds enigmatic Reagan Tough Subjec Tcharles Trueheart the Washington Post a to Quot Quot Quot Dmund Morris the presidential biographer granted extraordinary Access it to Ronald Reagan and his White Jln a House has confessed to fellow historians that the subject of his work in Progress had been Quot impossible to understand and suggested that Nancy Reagan found her husband no less bewildering. R Morris candid remarks about Reagan and about his own frustrations As a biographer break strict silence he had maintained since 1985 during the course of his research and writing. They appear in the current newsletter of the White Burkett Miller Center of Public affairs at the University of Virginia where Morris participated in a conference of Oral historians of the Reagan presidency in september. A. Morris who lives in Washington said he had not seen a copy of the newsletter and that he was reluctant to  published reflections. A insofar As the remarks arc correctly quoted Quot Morris said he had no concern about their publication a a a a a a a a a a  to a Small group of historians in Charlottesville Morris described Reagan As a the Quot most mysterious Man i have Ever confronted. It is impossible to understand him.�?�. According to the unsigned account in the win Ter edition of the Miller Center report Morriss amp or was Booher went on to say that he had gone through Quot a period of a year or so of depression because i Felt that with All my research How come i can to understand the first thing about him Quot  Reagan the biographer said a grew More puzzling the More i tried to study him. I Only came out of this despair when i found out that everybody else who had Ever known him including his wife is equally  seeking to explain Reagan a Appeal Morris said that foreign leaders such As Francois Mitterrand and Margaret Thatcher were Quot seduced by Reagan a extraordinary personal sweetness. Of course i was seduced by it myself. What Hindsight shows us is that after he has left the room after he has left the White House after he has Quot left our National life and gone off to retirement the Charisma goes with him and we realized How seduced we  also compared his subject to a Glacier. It a a he a Large and he a Slabby and he a cold but he has an inexorable slow Force which carves out this great Valley in the landscape. Rocks shatter. As he forces his Way through them and they end up on his Back and they ride his Back As he inches Forward eventually they Tumble off. And the Gla Cir keeps growing and  describing to fellow historians the terms of his unprecedented Access to Reagan and his inner Circle at their daily meetings at the White House Morris said a the had the guts to let somebody come in from outside stare at him read his mail go off and talk to his  who won the pulitzer prize and the american Book award 11 years ago for a the. Rise of Theodore Roosevelt a recalled his initial resistance to the. Possibility of being granted sex elusive Access to a sitting president. A Quot i remember thinking its not a healthy thing for a historian or a biographer to be pact of a entourage a Morris said. A the would just become one of the Guys. There is no Way you can resist the White House. You d become defensive you d Start writing apologies. 1 did no to want any part of.  _ but his feelings changed Morris said when he saw television footage of the president emerging. From the holocaust museum in Pitburg Ger a Riany in 1985 a the Climax of a controversial _ Reagan visit to a cemetery where German War dead including is troopers arc buried. A the combination of the expression on Presl Dent Reagan a face and the  a Lark and the Gray sky and the awfulness of what he was looking at made me passionately wish that i was there in the capacity of an observing  in any Case it did not take Morris Long to appreciate the limitations of his Access. A it was not possible for me to see naked policy being made a he said. A there was no Way that Don Regan George Shultz and Gap Weinberger when they were getting together in Reagan a of fico to discuss Iran Contra were going to let me in to listen to them  every spy a Prince the Complete history of israelis intelligence Community by Dan Raviv and Yossif Melman. Marc Jaffe a Houghton Houghton Mifflin si2.95 israelis Mossad,.widely regarded As the worlds Best intelligence Agency has had More than its share of triumphs including the capture of Adolf Eichmann and the Rescue of 103 hostages from a hijacked Jet at Entebbe. But As this Book Points out it has also tortured and killed Arab suspects and paid an american naval intelligence officer Jonathan Pollard to spy on the United states. The Story of the Agency is presented Here with All of it sri Lance. Fuith i e s7 successes and failures. There is enough material for a dozen films. A David d. Wise a new York times John Sutter a Wall Street lawyer and his Beautiful Rich wife find life a Little less Boring when a mafia Don named Frank Bellarosa moves into a the mansion next door what makes a the Gold coast glitter is Nelson do Miller a Sharp evocation of the _ vulpine Bellarosa and of Sutter a wonderfully sardonic self mocking Man betrayed by a midlife crisis. A Joanne Kaufman. A new York times the Gold coast by Nelson Demille Warner $5.95 on Long islands North Shore tropical freeze by James. W. Hall. Warner $4.95. Quot Thorn a loner who grew up in the Florida keys joins with a Miami. Television weather forecaster to find out who murdered her brother. If the action is sometimes unbelievable it realty does no to matter  Quot lyrical passion for the Florida keys his spare language and unusual v images haunt us Long after the Story has faded. Sara Paretsky a. A. New York times Means of ascent the years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert a Caro. Vintage $15 in the second Book of a projected four volume biography Robert a Caro shows Lyndon Baines Johnson _ using deceit Money and Manipur lation to steal the 1948 Texas senatorial election. Caro paints things too Black and White but the Book nonetheless is an immensely engrossing and deeply disturbing tale it is a marvelous Yam for Caro is an indefatigable investigative reporter and a skillful historian who can make the most abstract material a the planning of a Highway the withering of a crop the rigging of an election come a vibrantly to life. A t _ Ronald steel Quot 7 a new York times Chappie americans first Black four Star general by a Alfred. Phelps Presidio $19,95. A while Many films and books in the �?T70s made certain we did not forget the victims of american history Many in the �?T80s tried to reaffirm our past by suggesting that these victims often were Able to become victors. These portrayals were intended to inspire today a minorities of course but they were often so idealized As to have the opposite effect suggesting _ that past heroes possessed a superhuman strength. _ _ a Chappie Quot often suffers from this. Problem portraying the climb of this a big Blunt and Burly Black military officer Gen. Daniel. Jam is jr., As almost effortless. Alfred Phelps claims for instance that Chappie never stopped achieving Long enough to look Back and become discouraged by past injustice. We also see Little of Chappie a inevitable struggles As chief of Public relations for the air Force during and after the Vietnam War. Nevertheless Phelps is a. Sufficiently skilled writer to make us Admire the Way Chappie maintained a simpler yet Hardy optimism about his country even at its Worsta moments. A. _. 1_ Alex Raksin a los Angeles times All books available at Slars and stripes bookstores \ a Page 8a sunday april 7, 1991