Peter Collier, Author and Leading Conservative Voice, Dies at 80 – The New York Times

The Panther murder was a summary moment for both of us, Mr. Horowitz said by email, adding, We were affected significantly by the way all our progressive comrades defended the Panthers and claimed the white power structure killed Betty (as one of my close friends said).

Their 1984 book, The Kennedys: An American Drama, drew a favorable review from Bob Woodward in The Washington Post.

This remarkable four-generation history of the Kennedy family boldly faces some of the major ghosts in American life, he wrote. It deals not just with individual Kennedys but with power, ambition, the presidency, family, the generational change and obligation, money, religion, narcotics, good luck and bad luck.

The Lefties for Reagan article came shortly after.

When it appeared, Peter who was the realist between us said, Our literary careers are over, Mr. Horowitz said. Not quite.

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The Times called The Fords: An American Epic their best book to date. In 1991 Mr. Collier, writing on his own, published The Fondas: A Hollywood Dynasty.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Collier is survived by a daughter, Caitlin Collier; two sons, Andrew and Nicholas; and five grandchildren.

Mr. Collier saw a link between his early days on the left, opposing the status quo, and his later career as his own polar opposite, arguing against what he called the feel-good ideology of political correctness.

We are the counterculture," he told The San Francisco Chronicle in 1993. Were the people in opposition to what Orwell called the smelly little orthodoxies.

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Peter Collier, Author and Leading Conservative Voice, Dies at 80 - The New York Times