The Rise of the Counter-Establishment: The Conservative Ascent to Political Power

By Sidney Blumenthal

Book Overview

A classic of American politics returns! How did the Republican Party build its infrastructure and arrive at the Reagan triumph in the years following Barry Goldwater's defeat and Nixon's cataclysmic resignation in 1974? The Rise of the Counter-Establishment , a now seminal study of contemporary politics, provides the answers. Based on hundreds of interviews with key policy makers, Sidney Blumenthal shows how the conservatives orchestrated their influence to change American politics. By charting the rise of a small group of ideologues who transformed their vision into Washington's ruling orthodoxy, he brilliantly illuminates the important currents of conservative thought and action, as well as the mythology of Reaganism. Although Blumenthal himself is unabashedly liberal, he is also frankly admiring of the organizational genius displayed by the right wing in finding donors and benefactors eager to fund the think tanks, institutes, magazines, and endowed academic chairs that made the Reagan Revolution--and the George W. Bush presidency--possible. He presents an indispensable object lesson for any out-of-office party determined to regain political power.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402759118
• ISBN13: 9781402759116
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Union Square Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A fundamental source on the rise of the wingnuts...

Blumenthal is just a great pure writer...the fact that he's so hated on the right gives proof to his effectiveness..brilliant stuff...a must have.