Overview

Full Product Details

9780898628647

Table of Contents

Reviews

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 <br> 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<br> 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 <br> Sara Diamond's latest b

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 <br> 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 popula

Sociologist Diamond writes on the four-fold mobilization of conservative power in the United States. In the past 35 years American conservatives have gone from a sometimes loud but disenfranchised group to the controlling force behind the Republican party. They have occupied the White House for 12 of the past 15 years and now have a majority in both houses of Congress. This has not been a simple process, but rather a complicated piece of mobilization and coalition-building. Diamond identifies four distinct strands within the conservative movement: anticommunists, antisegregationists, the Christian Right, and the neoconservatives. The first provided a rallying point, the second an ugly racist overtone, the third a grassroots movement left in the cold by the Reagan administration, the fourth one of the movement's cadres of intellectuals (many of them former CCNY radicals). How these four groups made common cause - that David Duke should share a binding with Irving Kristol - is a riveting story, sometimes a grim one. Perhaps a brief section on Rockefeller Republicanism would have added context. And there is no mention of significant phenomena such as the Cambridge-based Ripon Society of the early '70s or the very influential American Spectator. Although the book is billed as non-judgmental, Diamond clearly isn't writing from a centrist perspective. In the first paragraph of the first page of chapter one, the US drops the Bomb, while the Soviets offer models for . . . anti-colonial national liberation movements. And one continually wishes that someone had done a search-and-replace for every instance of the author's veiled hostility and snide tone. That said, Diamond's book is an absorbing, painstaking, overdue typology and elucidation of the central phenomenon in American politics of the last 20 years. Not a particularly balanced book, but a valuable one in a sparse field dominated by even more egregious cant from both sides. (Kirkus Reviews)

An absorbing, painstaking, overdue, typology and elucidation of the central phenomenon in American politics of the last 20 years. -- Kirkus Reviews <br> While there have been plenty of books written about the left, scholars haven't paid anywhere near the same attention to the American Right. This book, one of the most sweeping studies of its kind goes a long way toward rectifying the imbalance.... Rather than emphasize each groups' extremism, as the media often does, Diamond makes clear their links to mainstream thought and to the political and business thought and to sustain them. She makes dozens of crucial connections... This book should prove a touchstone of future discussion about the right, which is more powerful today than at any time since the 1920s. -- Publishers Weekly <br> 'Any time there's a mass social movement, it's assumed that its members are crazy, ' says Sara Diamond, an independent scholar who has been studying the right for over a decade. So there are entire aspects of the right wing that haven't been covered - because they don't fit the frame of 'kooky extremist.'.... Diamond's encyclopedic new book, Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States studies the postwar American right in both its mainstream and its fringe Incarnations. -- Lingua Franca <br> Diamond's panoramic analytic overview and self-assured command of the facts make this the most important comprehensive book on the U.S. right ever written. -- The Progressive <br>, .. provides a strong sociological study of theU.S.... One of the more comprehensive studies available, this is a 'must' for anyone studying right wing group movements. -- The Bookwatch <br> Roads to Dominion makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the continuing right wing attack. -- Z Magazine <br> A lushly-detailed sociological analysis that provides the most cogent and complex overview of the U.S. political right since WWII ever published. -- The Public Eye <br>, .. .useful reading for feminists....Will give feminist readers a more sophisticated understanding of the success of the Right as a whole, which can only help in formulating strategies to combat its efforts against feminism....Observes and analyzes the Right with a clear mind, an attitude of respect and a willingness to point out blundering, hypocrisy, and deception on the Left. Her work is invaluable for anyone who wants to get past partisan rhetoric....Probably the most comprehensive study of the recent U.S. Right in existence....An essential book, an important book in many ways a fascinating book.... -- The Women's Review of Books <br> Should be required reading for any serious student of the subject. -- Political Science Quarterly <br> A major delight is the book's sheer comprehensiveness. For individuals investigating the U.S. political right, Roads to Dominion is a necessary addition to their professional library....Another strength of Diamond's book is its even-handedness....Diamond's historical narrative provides a refreshing contrast to some ofthe more hyperventilated tomes examining the rise of the political right, and the Christian right in particular....A solid and highly readable book. Roads to Dominion should quickly become standard fare. -- Religion and Education Forum <br> Diamond's analysis provides good evidence to counter those who exaggerate the strength, unity and popular base of the right. -- The Socialist Worker <br>, .. powerful, and chilling... -- Agenda <br> For all those casting wary glances at the ascendant right, Roads to Dominion is a must read.... Sara Diamond has done an excellent job of illuminating the nature of the US right. And she has laid the groundwork for more well-informed polemics against the rightist threat. -- Covert Action Quarterly <br>Named as an Outstanding Book on the subject of human rights in North America by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America <br> 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 you read no other, between now and the start of the next Millennium. -- The American Reporter <br>

Author Information

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.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available