"A first-rate work of insider his­tory . . . A monumental accomplishment." — National Review   The election that changed everything: Craig Shirley's masterful account of the 1980 presidential campaign reveals how a race judged "too close to call" as late as Election Day became a Reagan landslide—and altered the course of history.   To write  Rendezvous with Destiny , Shirley gained unprecedented access to 1980 campaign files and interviewed more than 150 insiders—from Reagan's closest advisers and family members to Jimmy Carter himself. His gripping account follows Reagan's unlikely path from his bitter defeat on the floor of the 1976 Republican convention, through his underreported "wilderness years," through grueling primary fights in which he knocked out several Republican heavyweights, through an often-nasty general election campaign complicated by the presence of a third-party candidate (not to mention the looming shadow of Ted Kennedy), to Reagan's astounding victory on Election Night in 1980.   Shirley's years of intensive research have enabled him to relate countless untold stories—including, at long last, the solution to one of the most enduring mysteries in politics: just how Reagan's campaign got hold of Carter's debate briefing books.