White supremacist violence, QAnon, the MAGA movement—how did the United States get to where we are today? This enduring work offers a panoramic view of right-wing populism in the United States from the Colonial period through the 20th century. Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons show how anti-elitist rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and ethnic scapegoating have influenced mainstream politics and culture throughout our history, far more than most Americans realize. The book examines the Jacksonians, the Ku Klux Klan, and a host of Cold War nationalist cliques, and relates them to the electoral campaigns of Patrick Buchanan, the militancy of the Posse Comitatus, the culture wars of the Christian Right, Clinton-era conspiracy theories, and more. Combining vivid description and incisive analysis, Berlet and Lyons explain how large numbers of disaffected Americans have long embraced right-wing populism in a misguided attempt to challenge power relations in U.S. society. The book offers a prescient perspective on the dangers that right-wing populism poses to our political system and to the goals of equality and social justice.
Winner—Outstanding Book Award, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America