Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States (Critical Perspectives)

How did the American right wing, which began as a small clique of post-World War II conservative intellectuals, transform into well-heeled, grassroots movements representing millions of ordinary citizens? Providing insight into today's headlines, Roads to Dominion answers this question with a compelling and thorough look at the broad range of right-wing movements in this country. Based on research that draws extensively from primary source literature, Sara Diamond traces the development of four types of right-wing movements over the past 50 years\m-\the anticommunist conservative movement, the racist Right, the Christian Right, and the neoconservatives\m-\and provides an astute historical analysis of each. Maintaining a nonjudgmental tone throughout the book, she explores these movements' roles within the political process and examines their relationships with administrations in power.

The book opens with the immediate aftermath of World War II and the onset of the Cold War, when the anticommunist policies of the United States government encouraged the growth of right-wing movements. Continuing through the 1960s and beyond, chapters examine the influence of right-wing groups within the Republican Party and the rise of white supremacist groups in response to the gains of the civil rights movement. We see the transformation of the neoconservatives, from a small band of Cold War liberal intellectuals into a bastion of support for Reagan era foreign policy. The book traces the development of the Christian Right, from its early activity during the Cold War period straight through to its heyday as a powerful grassroots movement during the 1980s and 1990s. Throughout the book, Diamond explains the Right's fifty-year quest for power. She shows how we can understand and even predict the Right's influence on day-to-day policymaking in the United States by observing some consistent patterns in the Right's relationships with political elites and government agencies. In some predictable ways, the Right engages in both conflict and collaboration with state institutions.

Sara Diamond, PhD, a leading authority on right-wing movements in the United States, holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of California. She is the author of Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States; Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right; and Facing the Wrath: Confronting the Right in Dangerous Times. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Introduction.

I. THE COLD WAR AND CIVIL RIGHTS ERA, 1945-1964.

1. Delayed Reaction: The Right after World War II.

2. From McCarthy to Goldwater: The Anticommunist Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

3. Organized Resistance to Preserve Segregation.

4. Historical Antecedents of the Christian Right.

II. THE RISE OF THE NEW RIGHT, 1965-1979.

5. Breaking the Impasse: New Political and Organizational Opportunities for the Conservative Movement.

6. The Americanist Movement and the Persistence of Racist Nationalism.

7. Casting the First Stones: The Early Mobilization of the Christian Right.

8. The Neoconservatives.

III. THE REAGAN ERA AND BEYOND, 1980-1995.

9. Right-Wing Power in the 1980s: The State-Movement Convergence.

10. Undaunted Allies: The Christian Right in the 1980s.

11. The Racist Right in the 1980s and 1990s: Diminished Influence, Resurgent Violence.

12. After Reagan, Rumbling on the Right.

13. Epilogue.