EL-KAB

While you can spend a lifetime or two exploring Luxor and the West Bank, the repeat visitor should not ignore smaller sites within an hour or two drive. To the South, for example, between Luxor and Esna, are Tod, Gebelein, Moalla, Esna, and el-Kab.
An ancient Egyptian would not have remembered a time when Nekheb, as el-Kab was originally named, was unoccupied or unimportant. Egyptologists have found traces of people living here at least as early as 6000 BCE.
El-Kab's eponymously named Vulture Rock is a reminder that the area was associated with the vulture goddess Nekhbet. Nekhbet was the main goddess of el-Kab and eventually became the goddess of Upper Egypt. She and Uatchet form the "Two Ladies" whose Nebyt name was one of the five principal names of Egyptian pharaohs.
In addition to Vulture Rock, a short list of accessible monuments to see at el-Kab will include the enclosure wall surroundinEL-KABg temple ruins, rock tombs of various officials from around the time of the New Kingdom, the Temple of Amenhotep III and Chapel of Thoth also from the New Kingdom, and a Rock Temple from the Ptolemaic era.

The first serious exploration of el-Kab was the 1799 Napoleonic Expedition. The Expedition's publications document several structures that have since been destroyed, most notably a temple of Thutmose III as well as ruins within the wall enclosure. impressive monuments are located inside the Great Wall of el-Kab. And, indeed, your anticipation rises on approach as the massive wall comes into view. Made of sun dried bricks, what you see today probably dates from the 30th Dynasty and measures 38 feet thick and almost as high in some places, covering an area of 590 by 625 yards. The wall survived because the ruins were covered by a tell formed out of millennia of accumulated debris. Even as late as 1870, all Amelia Edwards could see were "some remains of what looked like a long crude-brick wall running at right angles to the river."
Disembarking, we are struck by the silence of el-Kab contrasted with the constant honking horns of Luxor and importuning by souvenir hawkers. As an early 20th century writer put it: "...there are hours when the gay voices of Luxor fatigue the ears, when one desires a great calm."
The wall in front of us demands to be scaled but whether the authorities will allow it depends upon the usual inscrutable factors. Imshallah, our group is accorded the privilege, although we were not able to explore the enclosure proper. From the wall we can see the Nile but there is little evidence of the Temples of Nekhbet and Thoth, the sacred lake, and other monuments whose outlines are so enticingly depicted on plans of the area.
The remaining points of interest here are across the road. This is desert country; the only serious vegetation surrounds a small compound for the guides and guards.
But we haven't come to admire the local shrubbery. It is Vulture Rock--and another formation a short distance away--that takes us beyond what we have experienced elsewhere in Egypt. Here some 600 cartouches and inscriptions from Pharaonic times lie cheek and jowl with pre-Dynastic boats and animals. Some were carved by priests, others presumably put there by pilgrims over a period of thousands of years. We scramble up the rock, trying to find footholds and just the right camera angle to bring out the elusive inscriptions.

To the East of Vulture Rock in the area known as Wadi Hillal is the Temple of Amenhotep III. All of the structures on this side of the road are small; this temple is only 50 feet long. It was dedicated to Hathor and Nekhbet and served as a resting place for Nekhbet's barque on the joyous occasions when the goddess visited El-Kab. Unexpectedly, there is a depiction of Khaemwese, one of Ramesses II's best known sons, on the right facade, honoring his visit to promote his father's fourth jubilee. On the inside is an equally unexpected hieratic graffiti related to Ramesses III.

We are amazed to find inscriptions similar to those on Vulture Rock carved on the outside walls of some of the structures. The puzzle is resolved when one of our party realizes that the ancients must have quarried stones already covered with these inscriptions for use in later Chapels and Temples. No desecration was surely intended; rather by using inscribed stones they were renewing the power of the original and assuring the potency of the new structure.
Heading back towards the Nile past Vulture Rock takes you to the Ptolemaic Rock Temple. The temple is dedicated to a goddess new to me, the lion goddess Chesemtet. Although partially built out of stone, the temple earns its moniker from being partially cut into the hillside, usurping a New Kingdom rock tomb. It is easily recognizable from a distance by the lengthy staircase outside the structure.
Nearby is the even smaller Temple of Thoth built by order of Ramesses II and known to modern Egyptians as El Hammam, "the bath." (You may have encountered this term before--hammams are Turkish bathhouses and have become something of a fad in trendy hotels.)

Still closer to the Nile are a number of rock cut tombs. Several of those commissioned by 17-20th Dynasty officials are open to the public. As you face the necropolis, the major tombs (from left to right) are Renni, Ahmose son of Ibana, Setau, Pahery, and Ahmose Pennehbet.

Perhaps the most famous tomb belongs to Ahmose, son of Ibana, whose walls boast of his role in the expulsion of the Hyksos. Because many of our party were learning to read hieroglyphics, this tomb was especially interesting for the non-funerary texts.
Ahmose's son was Pahery. The middle photo below shows the hieroglyphs that form his name. His tomb dates from the reign of Thutmose III. Passing through its wide entrance, we were rewarded with a fine display of surviving colors on the mainly agricultural scenes shown under the watchful eye of the tomb owner. The tomb also shows Pahery inspecting scenes shipments of gold, reminding us that el-Kab was on the route from the gold mines to the east back to the Nile.
Setau's career spanned the reigns of Ramesses III through IX. While the tomb of this First prophet of Nekhbet is damaged, one of the unusual features is a representation of the tomb artist, Meryre. I can't find my photograph of Meryre, but when you visit the tomb, look for the man with the palette.
Renni's tomb contains the usual New Kingdom agricultural and banquet scenes, but with one unusual additions: pigs. Pigs are rarely depicted in ancient Egypt although some sources suggest there may have been connection between pigs and the vulture goddess. Fortunately, not a strong connection, as otherwise instead of seeing a vulture head attached to a headdress there might be a snout (with an pomegranate in its mouth?). But I digress. At the rear of the tomb is a badly damaged statue of Renni flanked by jackals. When you visit, look at the ceiling and see if it reminds you of a cloth canopy.
Sites such as el-Kab usually offer a variety of diversions. Several of our group were especially interested in photographing graffiti left by early travelers. Among the many examples they found include Napoleon III (Temple of Amenhotep III).
A decade ago, Friends of Chicago House toured el-Kab and wrote evocatively about the experience: "It was not difficult to imagine the hum of activity there in pharaonic times, caravans with military escort coming from the gold mines, couriers running or galloping in from Thebes, military units gathering for a campaign against "Wretched Kush," traders and adventurers off to the Red Sea and the incense land of Punt, and happy revelers accompanying the invisible goddess as she returned from her stay at the far southeastern rim of the world."

---

Have you ever returned from a trip
with a photo that you can't identify?
Here is one of my mystery pics from el-Kab.
From the other images taken around this one,
I would guess it is from either the Ptolemaic
Rock Temple or the Chapel of Thoth.

Abu-Simbel The ever massive temples of Ramases II

 Abu Simbel temples refers to two massive rock temples in Abu Simbel (أبو سمبل in Arabic) in Nubia, southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 230 km southwest of Aswan (about 300 km by road). The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments,"which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan).
The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate his Nubian neighbors. However, the complex was relocated in its entirety in 1968, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir.
The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. Abu Simbel remains one of Egypt's top tourist attractions. 

Construction

Construction of the temple complex started in approximately 1244 BCE and lasted for about 20 years, until 1224 BCE. Known as the "Temple of Ramesses, beloved by Amun," it was one of six rock temples erected in Nubia during the long reign of Ramesses II. Their purpose was to impress Egypt's southern neighbors, and also to reinforce the status of Egyptian religion in the region. Historians say that the design of Abu Simbel expresses a measure of ego and pride in Ramesses II.

Rediscovery

With the passage of time, the temples fell into disuse and eventually became covered by sand. Already in the 6th century BC, the sand covered the statues of the main temple up to their knees. The temple was forgotten until 1813, when Swiss orientalist JL Burckhardt found the top frieze of the main temple. Burckhardt talked about his discovery with Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni, who travelled to the site, but was unable to dig out an entry to the temple. Belzoni returned in 1817, this time succeeding in his attempt to enter the complex. He took everything valuable and portable with him. Tour guides at the site relate the legend that "Abu Simbel" was a young local boy who guided these early re-discoverers to the site of the buried temple which he had seen from time to time in the shifting sands. Eventually, they named the complex after him.

Relocation

In 1959 an international donations campaign to save the monuments of Nubia began: the southernmost relics of this ancient human civilization were under threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the con
One scheme to save the temples was based on an idea by William MacQuitty to build a clear fresh water dam around the temples, with the water inside kept at the same height as the Nile. There were to be underwater viewing chambers. In 1962 the idea was made into a proposal by architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry and civil engineer Ove Arup. They considered that raising the temples ignored the effect of erosion of the sandstone by desert winds. However the proposal, though acknowledged to be extremely elegant, was rejected.
The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples began in 1964 by a multinational team of archeologists, engineers and skilled heavy equipment operators working together under the UNESCO banner; it cost some $40 million at the time. Between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was carefully cut into large blocks (up to 30 tons, averaging 20 tons), dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location 65 meters higher and 200 meters back from the river, in one of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history. Some structures were even saved from under the waters of Lake Nasser. Today, thousands of tourists visit the temples daily. Guarded convoys of buses and cars depart twice a day from Aswan, the nearest city. Many visitors also arrive by plane, at an airfield that was specially constructed for the temple complex.
struction of the Aswan High Dam.

The complex consists of two temples. The larger one is dedicated to Ra-Harakhty, Ptah and Amun, Egypt's three state deities of the time, and features four large statues of Ramesses II in the facade. The smaller temple is dedicated to the goddess Hathor, personified by Nefertari, Ramesses's most beloved of his many wives. The temple is now open to the public.
The Great Temple
The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build, was completed around year 24 of the reign of Rameses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BCE). It was dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Rameses himself. It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Rameses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt.
Four colossal 20 meter statues of the pharaoh with the double Atef crown of Upper and Lower Egypt decorate the facade of the temple, which is 35 meters wide and is topped by a frieze with 22 baboons, worshippers of the sun and flank the entrance. The colossal statues were sculptured directly from the rock in which the temple was located before it was moved. All statues represent Ramesses II, seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The statue to the left of the entrance was damaged in an earthquake, leaving only the lower part of the statue still intact. The head and torso can still be seen at the statue's feet.
Next to the legs of the colossi, there are other statues no higher than the knees of the pharaoh. These depict Nefertari, Ramesses's chief wife, and queen mother Mut-Tuy, his first two sons Amun-her-khepeshef, Ramesses, and his first six daughters Bintanath, Baketmut, Nefertari, Meritamen, Nebettawy and Isetnofret.
The entrance itself is crowned by a bas-relief representing two images of the king worshiping the falcon-headed Ra Harakhti, whose statue stands in a large niche. This god is holding the hieroglyph user in his right hand and a feather while Ma'at, (the goddess of truth and justice) in on his left; this is nothing less than a gigantic cryptogram for Ramesses II's throne name, User-Maat-Re. The facade is topped by a row of 22 baboons, their arms raised in the air, supposedly worshipping the rising sun. Another notable feature of the facade is a stele which records the marriage of Ramesses with a daughter of king Hattusili III, which sealed the peace between Egypt and the Hittites.
The inner part of the temple has the same triangular layout that most ancient Egyptian temples follow, with rooms decreasing in size from the entrance to the sanctuary. The temple is complex in structure and quite unusual because of its many side chambers. The hypostyle hall (sometimes also called pronaos) is 18 meters long and 16,7 meters wide and is supported by eight huge Osirid pillars depicting the deified Ramses linked to the god Osiris, the god of the Underworld, to indicate the everlasting nature of the pharaoh. The colossal statues along the left-hand wall bear the white crown of Upper Egypt, while those on the opposite side are wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt(pschent). The bas-reliefs on the walls of the pronaos depict battle scenes in the military campaigns the ruler waged. Much of the sculpture is given to the Battle of Kadesh, on the Orontes river in present-day Syria, in which the Egyptian king fought against the Hittites. The most famous relief shows the king on his chariot shooting arrows against his fleeing enemies, who are being taken prisoner. Other scenes show Egyptian victories in Libya and Nubia.




From the hypostyle hall, one enters the second pillared hall, which has four pillars decorated with beautiful scenes of offerings to the gods. There are depictions of Ramesses and Nefertari with the sacred boats of Amun and Ra-Harakhti. This hall gives access to a transverse vestibule in the middle of which is the entrance to the sanctuary. Here, on a black wall, are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra-Horakhty, the deified king Ramesses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah. Ra-Horakhty, Amun Ra and Ptah were the main divinities in that period and their cult centers were at Heliopolis, Thebes and Memphis respectively.
Solar phenomena
It is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 21 and February 21 (61 days before and 61 days after the Winter Solstice), the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, the god connected with the Underworld, who always remained in the dark ^.

These dates are allegedly the king's birthday and coronation day respectively, but there is no evidence to support this, though it is quite logical to assume that these dates had some relation to a great event, such as the jubilee celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the pharaoh's rule.
Due to the displacement of the temple and/or the accumulated drift of the Tropic of Cancer during the past 3,280 years, it is widely believed that each of these two events has moved one day closer to the Solstice, so they would be occurring on October 22 and February 20 (60 days before and 60 days after the Solstice, respectively).
The NOAA Solar Position Calculator may be used to verify the declination of the Sun for any location on Earth, at any particular date and time. For the latitude of Abu Simbel 22°20′13″N 31°37′32″E / 22.33694°N 31.62556°E / 22.33694; 31.62556, the calculator will yield values close to -11º for both Oct 22 and Feb 20.

The Sun Celebrates Ramsses The Great

Discover Egypt as it celebrates October sun festival. This has long been renowned that attracted a lot of foreign tourists. The phase of changes has not entirely changed the concept but rather improved the festivity to be more alluring. Take a tour and experience a rare lifetime sensation in the realms in the modern day Egypt
The ten day gala  can be a tour for those that need to combine pleasure and rediscovering the majestic architecture. Come to Abu Simbel and enjoy the legendary Egypt and witness the grand Sun Festival of King Ramses II. Reach the temple way before dawn, and watch the spectacular event occur before your eyes .
http://www.egyptraveluxe.com/the_sun_ceremony_the_sun_celebrates_ramsses_the_great.php

 

 

 

Support Freedom & visit Egypt

A great article by the New York Times about Tourism in Egypt after the 25th of Jan. Revolution.

Tahrir Square, Egypt’s Newest Tourist Draw

www.nytimes.com

New destinations are emerging as must-sees for travelers hoping to experience the “new Egypt.”

2 New statuary fragments uncovered at mortuary temple of Amen-hotep III in Luxor

Two red Granite statuary fragments of king Amen-hotep III were unearthed at Amen-hotep III's (1410 -1372 BC) mortuary temple on the west bank of Luxor .
A team has been working on uncover the ruins of the funerary complex ,which was once the largest temple in Ancient Egypt . Unfortunately ,during the Late period , the temple was destroyed and its ruins were reused in the construction of other temples .
The first newly discovered artifact is a 2.73 meter tall head of the god Hapi who was one os the four sons of god Horus and is depicted with a baboon head .the second object is a fragment of a larger statue of king Amen-hotep III ,which features two legs that are 30 cm tall . Excavation is now focused on unearthing the rest of these statuary fragmenbts.
Due to the large number of statues found in this area ,it is believed that the northern side of the temple may have served as a burial spot for broken and damaged statues .Because the statues were ritually significant they could not be destroyed ,instead the Ancient Egyptians gathered the fallen statue and buried them in a cache beside the temple .
www.egyptraveluxe.com

YouTube - Saving The Temple of Amenhotep III at Thebes (ft Dr. Hourig Sourouzian)

YouTube - Saving The Temple of Amenhotep III at Thebes (ft Dr. Hourig Sourouzian)

TV review: MSNBC's 'President of the World,' basking in Bill Clinton's afterglow

Valentine's Day was a week ago, but MSNBC's Chris Matthews has belatedly gifted a particular former president with a mash note - strike that, a one-hour special called "President of the World: The Bill Clinton Phenomenon," airing on the cable news channel Monday night.
Why? Because it's Presidents' Day. Also because it's been a full decade since Clinton left office, embarking on an epic quest to remain at the forefront of the celebripoliticomedia hive mind. Or, as Matthews reminds us much more than once: He is Everywhere.
"Bill Clinton's position in the world continues to grow. He's part dignitary, part humanitarian, part politician, part international statesman, and somehow, greater than them all," he intones.
For much of the hour, you'll wonder if you're watching one of Robert Smigel's old "X-Presidents" cartoon parodies for "Saturday Night Live." Matthews, aided by the likes of Terry McAuliffe, Mary Steenburgen and various biographers, remarks again and again how smart Clinton is, how generous, how famous, how friendly, how productive. Perhaps this special is some sort of MSNBC covert-op to cause paralytic apoplexy over there on the right? The kind of people who still keep the Starr Report at the ready?
There is no doubt that Clinton has busied himself in a number of worthy ways, especially when he heads toward human and natural disasters (wars, tsunamis, earthquakes, hostage crises) to raise relief funds or broker a solution. He loves the world and, as we see on many a tarmac and in convention halls and hotel lobbies hither and yon, the world still loves him back. The best part of the special is the story of how two American reporters who were arrested and held in North Korea in 2009 reacted when he showed up to rescue them: The door opened, there stood Bill Clinton, and they collapsed into his arms, weeping with relief.
The not-very-sub subtext of "President of the World" is a nostalgic grieving for the glory of the Clinton years. Matthews's special reminded me of a line from this season of "Glee," an exchange between Artie (the guy in the wheelchair) and Brittany (the uncannily dense cheerleader). Artie says, "I thought I was over someone, but I still think I have feelings for them."
The Clintons?" Brittany asks. Ever cooperative, Clinton grants Matthews interviews and permission to tag along for a few days. Nothing new is revealed or reflected upon, except how good he feels at 64, and what a charge he gets out of globe-trotting. We learn little of the partnerships and financial underpinnings of the nonprofit Clinton Global Initiative and its philanthropic offshoots. We get little insight into Clinton's daily life as a millionaire VIP.
The real story - glossed over and merely admired here - is how Clinton discovered previously uncharted territories of fame and motivates other celebrities to do their saintly best. There is also an unforgettable narrative about a marriage here, but the name Hillary Clinton barely comes up, except in the context of his role in her 2008 presidential campaign or how his travels often pave a way for her diplomatic efforts as (you may have heard) secretary of state.
"President of the World" triggers another thought: We need more time apart, him and us. Bill Clinton is too young - and too alive - for anyone to make a good one-hour special about, just yet. Matthews has merely made a promotional film for someone who isn't running for anything.
Comparisons are made to other X-Presidents (I somehow never knew Herbert Hoover oversaw European famine relief after World War II, but we've certainly seen Jimmy Carter lift cinder blocks), but finally we are told that there is no ideal job description for a former president. As seen here, everything is just afterglow.
President of the World: The Bill Clinton Phenomenon (one hour) airs Monday at 10 p.m. on MSNBC.

Five myths about Ronald Reagan

By Edmund Morris

Friday, February 4, 2011; 5:00 PM

It has been argued that Ronald Reagan was a myth himself, a construct of his own and other people's imaginings, rather than an extraordinary American about whom some untruths are told. The sentimental colossus his acolytes are trying to erect today, with gilded pecs, red-painted smile and an NRA-approved pistol in each manly fist, bears no resemblance to the man I knew: in private a person of no ego and little charisma, in public a statesman of formidable purpose.

 
1. He was a bad actor.
Well, yes and no. Most of the movies he made as a Warner Bros. contract player are unwatchable by persons of sound mind. When he was president, it was easy to laugh at them. The spectacle of the leader of the free world, a.k.a. Secret Service agent Brass Bancroft, deploying an enormous ray gun against an airborne armada was especially hilarious in 1983, the year he announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, that vaporizer of foreign nuclear missiles. "All right, Hayden - focus that inertia projector on 'em and let 'em have it!"
Even when Reagan believed he was acting well, as in "Kings Row," he betrayed infallible signs of thespian mediocrity: an unwillingness to listen to other performers and an inability to communicate thoughts. Now that he is dead, however, one feels an odd tenderness for the effort he put into every role - particularly in early movies, when he struggled to control a tendency of his lips to writhe around his too-rapid speech.
Ironically, he was transformed into a superb actor when he took on the roles of governor of California, presidential candidate and president of the United States. Then, as never in his movies, he became authoritative, authentic, irresistible to eye and ear. His two greatest performances, in my opinion, were at the Republican National Convention in 1976, when he effortlessly stole Gerald Ford's thunder as nominee and made the delegates regret their choice, and at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1985, when he delivered the supreme speech of his presidency.

I asked him once if he had any nostalgia for the years he was nuzzling up to Ann Sheridan and Doris Day on camera. He gestured around the Oval Office. "Why should I? I have the biggest stage in the world, right here!"

 
2. He was but a movie-set soldier in World War II.
It's true that Reagan spent virtually all the war years flying a desk at the First Motion Picture Unit, USAAF, in Culver City. But that hardly means he did not passionately want to fight for his country overseas. Army doctors found his vision to be so defective, at "7/200 bilateral," that a tank could advance within seven feet of him before he could identify it as Japanese. His Warner Bros. colleague Eddie Albert, a veteran of the Pacific War, later told me about presenting Reagan with a souvenir from the bloodbath of Tarawa. "I've never forgotten the way he looked. Like I'd humiliated him."
In the spring of 1945, Capt. Reagan, as the FMPU's intelligence officer, spent weeks processing raw color footage from the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. The images so burned into his brain that later in life - quite understandably - he imagined he had been there at Ohrdruf and Buchenwald. He kept one of those Army reels to show to each of his children in early adolescence, so that they could learn about man's inhumanity to man. Ask Patti. Ask Ron.

 
3. He was warm-hearted.
No. But Reagan wasn't cold - except in his detestation of totalitarianism - so much as cool, in the way a large, calm lake is cool. Like many another natural leader (George Marshall and Charles de Gaulle come to mind), he viewed those who clustered around him abstractedly. He registered audiences rather than individuals. Reagan intimates have confessed to me that they were never sure he knew who the hell they were.
His three younger children have publicly stated that there were times (decades before any rumors of dementia) when he treated them as complete strangers. As for his marriage to Nancy, I'll note only that she was the fourth short, tough, street-smart woman he dreamily depended on to organize his everyday life, the others being his mother, Nelle Reagan; his first fiancee, Margaret Cleaver; and his first wife, Jane Wyman. He had no close friends. And until young Ron reminded him, it didn't occur to him to put a headstone on either of his parents' graves.

 
4. He was only a campaign Christian.
On the contrary, Reagan was a "practical Christian," that being the name of a mainly Midwestern, social-work-oriented movement when he was growing up. At 11, young Dutch had an epiphany, prompted by the sight of his alcoholic father lying dead drunk on the front porch of the family house in Dixon, Ill. In a moving passage of autobiography, Reagan wrote: "Seeing his arms spread out as if he were crucified - as indeed he was - his hair soaked with melting snow, snoring as he breathed, I could feel no resentment against him." It was the season of Lent, and his mother, a devotee of the Disciples of Christ, put a comforting novel in his hand: "That Printer of Udell's" by Harold Bell Wright. Dutch read it and told her, "I want to declare my faith and be baptized." He was, by total immersion, on June 21, 1922.
I read a speckled copy of that book in the Library of Congress. Almost creepily, it tells the story of a handsome Midwestern boy who makes good for the sins of his father by becoming a practical Christian and a spellbinding orator. He develops a penchant for brown suits and welfare reform, marries a wide-eyed girl (who listens adoringly to his speeches) and wins election to public office in Washington.
Shy about his faith as an adult, Reagan was capable of conventional pieties like all American politicians. He attended few church services as president. But on occasion, before critical meetings, you would see him draw aside and mumble prayers.

 
5. He was an "amiable dunce."
Yeah, right, Clark Clifford. Ronald Reagan only performed successfully in six different careers: radio sportscaster, movie actor, trade union president, corporate spokesman, two-term governor and two-term president of the United States. Lucky for him he wasn't hampered by Jimmy Carter's intelligence!
Edmund Morris was the authorized biographer of Ronald Reagan. In addition to "Dutch," his life of the 40th president, he has published a trilogy about Theodore Roosevelt.