The essential Garry Wills, Lead Time offers a provocative view of a pivotal era in America from one of our most esteemed historians. In this collection of essays, written between 1968 and 1982, Wills explores American culture, politics, and mores, and demonstrates his astute and always interesting approach to his subjects, including Vietnam, Richard Nixon, Muhammad Ali, Pope John Paul II, and Ronald Reagan. Newly reissued with a new preface, this is a must-read from ?a mind that likes to range beyond the usual boundaries of periodical journalism? (New York Times).

GARRY WILLS, a distinguished historian and critic, is the author of numerous books, including the Pulitzer Prize?winning Lincoln at Gettysburg, Saint Augustine, and the best-selling Why I Am a Catholic. A regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, he has won many awards, among them two National Book Critics Circle Awards and the 1998 National Medal for the Humanities. He is a history professor emeritus at Northwestern University.