by Lisa McGirr
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Product Description
In the early 1960s, American conservatives seemed to have fallen on hard times. McCarthyism was on the run, and movements on the political left were grabbing headlines. The media lampooned John Birchers's accusations that Dwight Eisenhower was a communist puppet. Mainstream America snickered at warnings by California Congressman James B. Utt that "barefooted Africans" were training in Georgia to help the United Nations take over the country. Yet, in Utt's home district of Orange County, thousands of middle-class suburbanites proceeded to organize a powerful conservative movement that would land Ronald Reagan in the White House and redefine the spectrum of acceptable politics into the next century. Suburban Warriors introduces us to these people: women hosting coffee klatches for Barry Goldwater in their tract houses; members of anticommunist reading groups organizing against sex education; pro-life Democrats gradually drawn into conservative circles; and new arrivals finding work in defense companies and a sense of community in Orange County's mushrooming evangelical churches. We learn what motivated them and how they interpreted their political activity. Lisa McGirr shows that their movement was not one of marginal people suffering from status anxiety, but rather one formed by successful entrepreneurial types with modern lifestyles and bright futures. She describes how these suburban pioneers created new political and social philosophies anchored in a fusion of Christian fundamentalism, xenophobic nationalism, and western libertarianism. While introducing these rank-and-file activists, McGirr chronicles Orange County's rise from "nut country" to political vanguard. Through this history, she traces the evolution of the New Right from a virulent anticommunist, anti-establishment fringe to a broad national movement nourished by evangelical Protestantism. Her original contribution to the social history of politics broadens--and often upsets--our understanding of the deep and tenacious roots of popular conservatism in America.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 An Excellent History of the Modern Conservative Movement, 2007-07-18
Lisa McGirr's book, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right, chronicles the birth of the modern conservative movement from its beginnings in Orange County, California in the late 1950s through the election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States in 1980. Though conservatism grew from one issue, namely anticommunism, the movement came to encompass much more. Suburban Warriors' six chapters begin with "The Setting," describing demographics and economics in Orange County. Next, "`A Sleeping Giant Is Awakening': Right-Wing Mobilization, 1960-1963," describes the beginnings of the conservative movement; "The Grassroots Goldwater Campaign" highlights the involvement of Orange County residents in the 1964 presidential election; and "The Conservative Worldview at the Grassroots" defines and analyzes the conservative ideology. Finally, "The Birth of Popular Conservatism" introduces Ronald Reagan as the conservative standard bearer and "New Social Issues and Resurgent Evangelicalism" describing new social issues and a renaissance of the evangelical movement. McGirr concludes the text with an epilogue which brings the reader forward to the twenty-first century. Though Suburban Warriors' implications affect the entire country, McGirr uses "...Orange County as the lens through which to explore the social base and ideological waters..." to explore conservatism, and does so with the use of first person testimonials and statistical data.
Appropriately, the first chapter, entitled "The Setting," describes Orange County, California, through the use of statistical and census data. One could surmise early on in this chapter that the author gets the reader lost in numbers at times, like the list of defense contractors and the number of employees in each company for example. Nevertheless, the history of the county and its subsequent growth is important for the reader to know so that an understanding of the birthplace of the modern conservative movement can be appreciated. Knowing there was a presence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s can further the understanding of how the John Birch Society became strong there in the 1950s. Moreover, the growth of fundamental Christian organizations and churches only emphasize the coming Evangelical religious movement that flourished in the region.
Throughout the second chapter, "`A Sleeping Giant Is Awakening': Right-Wing Mobilization, 1960-1963," the beginning of the conservative movement is documented. Here, the leaders of organizations like the School of Anti-Communism and the John Birch Society are identified and their groups defined. The John Birch Society, for example, was started by a candy manufacturer named Robert Welch who became fundamentally disenchanted with the Republican Party. In Welch's eyes, the party did not do enough to thwart the spread of socialism and communism. This group was organized into small chapters that met at member's homes and participated in talks about communism and conducted other "grass roots" measures like "...letter-writing campaigns, showed films, and passed out recruiting literature." Although small in membership, it provided the groundwork for the battles that were yet to come. Financial capital was also needed to fund these organizations. Men like Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farm and Adolph Schoepe of the Kwik-Set Lock Company, were available to provide the necessary funding to help the movement grow.
Looking back today at the 1964 presidential election, it would seem as though conservative Republican candidate Barry Goldwater had no chance of winning. "The Grassroots Goldwater Campaign" details how the conservative movement, including groups like the John Birch Society, mobilized to get Goldwater elected. Although it failed miserably, the foundation was laid to increase conservative chances in the future. Further, it introduced Ronal Reagan and moved him to the forefront of conservative politics.
In the chapter entitled, "The Conservative Worldview at the Grassroots," McGirr lays out the conservative philosophy and ideology. From school prayer, abortion-on-demand, sex education for children, to anti-communism and a host of other subjects, a reader unfamiliar with conservatism can gain a good understanding of the movement. Further, some of the more radical viewpoints are also highlighted, like the disdain for the United Nations and the belief that the UN was making an effort to take over the United States and form a one-world government.
Chapter five, "The Birth of Populist Conservatism," chronicles Ronald Reagan's successful campaign for governor of California in 1966. Though conservatives were despondent over the loss by Goldwater in 1964, Reagan did not allow them to repeat the mistakes that cost them victory. He called for party unity and harkened Republicans to follow the "Eleventh Commandment...Thou shall not speak ill of any fellow Republican...." Nonetheless, he also adopted a strategy of avoiding the appearance of extremism and distanced himself from groups like the John Birch Society.
Richard Nixon's election to the presidency in 1968 ends chapter five and begins chapter six, "New Social Issues and Resurgent Evangelicalism." With success at the state level in California with Reagan and at the national level with Nixon, many involved at the grass-roots level dropped out of the broad-based organizations and focused more on single-issue campaigns. The John Birch Society, once the bedrock of the conservative movement, saw a sharp decline in membership, primarily because the leadership moved even farther right and made members uncomfortable. More importantly, they lacked new ideas. McGirr concludes the chapter with a discussion on the resurgence of the fundamentalist Christian movement, using Robert Schuller and his Crystal Cathedral as one example.
Throughout the text McGirr used average, everyday people to speak about their participation in the modern conservative movement. In the epilogue, she interviews those mentioned earlier and tells the reader what they are doing today. One example, Rufus and Peggy Pearce, were quite active in the 1960s. After Reagan was elected president, their activities in the movement declined, saying it was time for others to become active.
Lisa McGirr's Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right, was an excellent history of the modern conservative movement. Those unfamiliar with the beliefs of today's conservative spokespersons like Patrick Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, and Laura Ingraham can learn more about the roots of their beliefs from this book. Rather than focusing on the movement at the national level, McGinn focused on a national phenomenon at the local level, condensing it into an easy-to-read digest of the conservative movement.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 Interesting Subject..., 2006-03-09
I was assigned this book for class and therefore didn't have a huge interest in the subject before I read the book. I haven't finished it, but I also don't plan to finish it. The subject was interesting, but the book wasn't captivating.
I found that the author sometimes became overly concerned with statistical information and details which left me (as well as my classmates) confused and frustrated. When too many facts are thrown at you at once, you just want to skip it and move along.
If you actually know about the John Birch Society and are highly interested in the Conservative Right, I'm sure you will like the book, even in spite of those "factual" sections. Historically, it's very accurate and I know that those who were interested really enjoyed the author's style.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Analyzes the 'warrior' battle plan of the 1950's and 1960's, 2005-05-30
This book is neat precisely because it takes a scholarly approach to examining the new right. Instead of writing a frenzied treatise why the right is bad, Lisa McGirr lets readers draw conclusions from her fact-based historical analysis.
The suburban new right emerged in the 1950's and early 1960's out of a desire for self-preservation. People in these newly emergent suburbs were alternating between the 'self-reliant' model of conservative libertarianism and 'big-government' social conservatism which placed its premiums on social and political conformity as a tool for ensuring order in the community. The then cold war united the two periodically disparate strains of conservatism into a unified school of thought; conformity was good for national security.
Because it upheld the values which they supported (and felt were in the best benefit for America) the people who would become part of the New Right honestly did not mind when they and/or their companies received economic subsidies from the government. They had to defend the country against the reds after all. This was not mooching off the system, but ensuring the country would be able to produce the best resources and the brightest people to outmatch 'the reds'.
The 'red-baiting' and 'race-baiting' which I and other people have publicly and psychologically associated with the right only came into existence when the status quo was being threatened.
The same people who had not protested (and in fact welcomed) government benefits for themselves became genuinely anxious upon realizing that the civil rights movement was attempting to reconfigure the American state to offer more benefits to more groups of people. This exposed contradictions in the American state as it currently existed and hinted that a reconfigured American state would not provide exactly the same order of things as they had known it to exist.
Fearful of these 'other' people, some southern states undertook the-then shocking action of voting for Barry Goldwater in 1964, disrupting the solidly Democratic south. Prior to this time, a southerner voting Republican was unthinkable. The party of Lincoln after all was responsible for both emancipation and reconstruction.
Although Goldwater would loose to Johnson, his candidacy and campaign positions (including against the civil rights act) further laid the foundations for the present day situation. Voting shifts in the 1964 presidential election ultimately encouraged the Reagan revolution of the 1980's and George W. Bush's promotion of faith based initiatives today.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Good, but not great, 2004-05-05
McGirr's book traces the rise of what I would call the (white, middle-class) suburban right and the Christian right, beginning in the early 60s. The new right coalesced around anti-Communism, laissez faire capitalism, states' rights and local government, the "traditional" family, Christian values, individual economic responsibility, and low taxes.It was the suburban Christian right that first brought these views together. Barry Goldwater, who ran for President in 1964 against Johnson, was an early exemplar of new right views. However, his strong opposition to the Civil Rights acts won him the lower South and, along with his virulent anti-Communism, helped him lose the rest of the country. The suburban Christian right shed the virulent and conspiratorial anti-Communism that they initially directed at domestic enemies; south-eastern politics moved away from the New Deal order and shed legal segregation and overt biological racism; they all joined their Christian and conservative forces and formed a conservative coalition behind Ronald Reagan. McGirr's is a "bottom up" analysis that begins with the grass roots social base of the suburban Christian right, using Orange County as a prototypical case study. She also examines the interplay of grass roots leaders, rank and file members, regional business elites, and national intellectual and political leaders. The book doesn't delve into how the suburban right teamed up with south-eastern conservatives, but their shared Christianity, shared social conservatism, and shared opposition to civil rights, busing, and affirmative action makes it fairly easy to guess what that part of the story in general looks like. However, McGirr's would be a better book if she examined some of these connections, at least briefly. This is what makes the book good but not great. Post-script: Today, the Cold War is over, terrorism has replaced communism as America's global enemy, and George W. Bush has combined the Christian right with the post-Cold War, neo-conservative, neo-imperialist right. Bush has tried to combine anti-terrorism, neo-imperialism, and Christian conservativism without provoking Christian-Islamic antagonisms--antagonisms already strained by Christian conseravtive and neo-conservative support for Israel. These topics would make an interesting post-script to McGirr's book.
2 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Rhetorical, but ok, 2004-05-01
I had to read this book for a history class. It provides enough incite on the origin of conservatism in Orange County, but to me, she overemphasizes her status as a historian. Instead of telling one point just once, she repeats it again in another segment, which, as a reader, I already knew because she said it before. She is non-biased in her approach of the conservative uprooting, yet she does seem to make them out to look like the enemy rather than a large group of people that were encouraging enrollment for causes they believed in. I recommend it to anyone who likes to read the word "Knott" over and over again.
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