Matthew Dallek is a professor at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. The author of The Right Moment and Defenseless Under the Night, his writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, the Atlantic, and others. He lives in Washington, DC.
"Highly readable."--Jewish Book Council
"Matthew Dallek's excellent new history, Birchers, argues
convincingly that this 'movement from the 1960s, long thought dead,
is casting its shadow across the United States'. Dallek offers not
just a definitive history of the John Birch Society but also an
insight into how we got to where we are today."--Irish Times
"[W]ell-researched work, whose details lay out a society worth
remembering, and a history that is relevant for today..."--National
Review
"[A] compelling treatment of the origins, evolution, and
integration of a fringe movement into the heart of American
conservative politics... Fascinating... Important."
--Bucks County Beacon
"Dallek...has waded through thousands of documents to offer a
compelling and richly detailed account of the society's activities
in the 1960s...Dallek deserves high praise for disinterring the
history of the movement in such minute detail. He amply
demonstrates that the conspiracism and hate propagated by the
Birchers helped lay the groundwork for the MAGA movement decades
later."
--Washington Monthly
"Dallek's history is valuable for anyone who wants to understand
where the conspiratorial and apocalyptic bent in today's right-wing
politics came from... A central lesson of [Dallek's] book is: Don't
assume that just because a group is isolated, kooky, or fringe it
will never penetrate the halls of power...Kooks should not be
underestimated."
--Nation
"Impressive new history...You do not have to agree with Dallek's
thesis to find his book worth reading."--Financial Times
"What makes Birchers so enthralling, ultimately, is Dallek's
willingness to hold up a mirror to the political establishment, if
not his own readership. Birchism's triumphant return, he suggests,
is itself an indictment of the broader liberal project: quagmires
in Iraq and Afghanistan have bred a deep distrust of the federal
government, while galloping inequality across Democratic and
Republican administrations alike has helped create an opening for
the Right's ersatz populism."
--Jacobin
"A timely, critically important contribution to the history of our
present political and constitutional crisis."--Kirkus, starred
review
"In this crisp history of the John Birch Society (JBS), [Dallek]
details its influence on the radicalization of the modern
Republican party...Based on extensive archival research, this
timely account of the John Birch Society is essential for readers
interested in U.S. political history and far-right
extremism."--Library Journal, starred review
"Dallek's account -- of the 'halting' and clumsy effort by
conservatives to simultaneously exploit and contain Bircher
energies -- is both well-told and depressingly
familiar."--Washington Post
"Dallek's book is quick-paced and well researched. However
troubling, it is a joy to read."--Guardian
"Illuminating...In addition to Dallek's scrupulous research, he
knows how to tell this story with a clarifying elegance and
restraint."--New York Times
"Comprehensive and enlightening...This is a treasure trove for
political history buffs."--Publishers Weekly
"A fascinating and much-needed look at the strange but vital
history of the John Birch Society. Long dismissed as a fringe
movement, the Birchers and their conspiratorial style have found
new life in the Trump-era right. This is just the history we need
to understand today's political predicament."--Beverly Gage, author
of G-Man
"Before MAGA, there was the John Birch Society, an organization
known to many but understood by very few. Dallek has penetrated the
fog. His superbly researched and well-written history shows us
exactly who the Birchers were and why they mattered--and still
matter today."--Sam Tanenhaus, author of The Death of
Conservatism
"The John Birch Society was once considered so far out on the
paranoid fringe it was synonymous with kookiness. In his
fascinating and scrupulously researched narrative, Dallek shows how
the Republican Party's extremists took over the GOP. Revelatory and
readable, Birchers is essential history for anyone trying to
understand American politics."--Jane Mayer, author of Dark
Money
"Birchers is an eye-opening account of the decades-long struggle to
organize the radical right in the United States--and to bring the
far-right into electoral politics. This deeply researched account
exposes the inner workings of the secretive organization, the
deep-pocketed and high-powered activists who joined its ranks, and
the everyday Americans drawn into its conspiratorial web."--Nicole
Hemmer, author of Partisans
"In Cold War America, no organization on the right was larger or
more influential than the John Birch Society. Matthew Dallek's
perceptive, engrossing narrative reveals as never before how a
group funded by wealthy businessmen and organized at the grassroots
level changed the Republican Party--and the nation. Birchers is one
of the best and most essential histories of modern conservatism
that has ever been written."--Michael Kazin, author of What It Took
to Win
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