LIKE REAGANISM, the phenomenon of Thatcherism presents enormous difficulties to historians, economists, and other scholars. For one thing, the “isms” are difficult to separate from the flesh-and-blood politicians who are their namesakes. Both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher have personalities that blind their adherents to any faults, and their opponents to any achievements. Love Reagan for his easy geniality, or hate him for his laziness and his actor’s one-liners, but few remain neutral.