Synopses & Reviews
Review
"This is, without a doubt, the most important sociological study of the U.S. right ever written. In a field so often dominated by polemic and jeremiad, this is the most lucid, systematic, sober, and sobering analysis I have ever read. This really is a landmark study, and will shape the contours of future research for generations to come." --Gerry O'Sullivan, Ph.D., Fordham University
"Sara Diamond's Roads to Dominion is a major contribution to the literature on movements of the right in the U.S., a sweeping and at the same time careful and detailed account of the rise of right wing movements in the postwar era. While there are many scholars studying progressive social movements, Sara Diamond is one of a very few examining the currently much larger and more influential movements of the right. Her book is valuable for its informative and judicious presentation of this history and its balanced treatment of the various sections of the right: religious and secular, elite and popular. Diamond persuasively argues that movements of the right have grown by making alliances with elites in the realm of electoral politics while maintaining a popular culture outside the state. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand the shift to the right that has taken place in the U.S. in recent decades." --Barbara Epstein, Professor, History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz
"An excellent and highly educational book by a sociologist who writes in readable English. It teems with information about the history, leaders, organizations, and ideas of the major conservative movements of the last 50 years in the U.S.... Nobody exceeds Diamond... in the range and depth of information she provides about the conservative movements she has studied in historical perspective: how they arise, their resources, their ideologies, and the reasons for their successes and failures." --R.B. Fowler, University of Wisconsin - Madison
"Sara Diamond's latest book is a welcome addition to this burgeoning literature, and quite different in its approach from other recent studies of the right....indispensable to anyone interested in right-wing social movements." --Abby L. Rerber, University of Colorado, Political Processes
Review
"... an excellent and highly educational book by a sociologist who writes in readable English. It teems with information about the history, leaders, organizations, and ideas of the major conservative movements of the last 50 years in the U.S.... Nobody exceeds Diamond... in the range and depth of information she provides about the conservative movements she has studied in historical perspective: how they arise, their resources, their ideologies, and the reasons for their successes and failures."--Choice
Review
"A unique work that may well remain unmatched for years to come. It has an incredible breadth and depth of scholarship and reporting on its subject matter....Read this book, if your read no other, between now and the start of the next Millennium."--The American Reporter
Review
"...provides a strong sociological study of the U.S.... One of the more comprehensive studies available, this is a must' for anyone studying right wing group movements."--Review's Bookwatch
Review
"Should be required reading for any serious student of the subject."--Political Science Quarterly
Synopsis
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.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 411-425) and index.
About the Author
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.
Table of Contents
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.