Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York : Penguin Press, 2004.
Description
The Right Nation is the definitive portrait of the America that few outsiders understand: the America that votes for George Bush, that supports the death penalty and gun rights, that believes in minimal government and long prison sentences, that pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol. America, argue John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, award winning journalists at The Economist, has always been a conservative country; but over the past 50 years it has built up a radical conservative movement unlike any other country. The authors tell the story of how these radicals took over the Republican Party, and they deconstruct the Bush White House, examining the many influences from neo-conservatism to sun belt entrepreneurialism. This quest takes the authors from young churchgoers in Colorado Springs to gay gun clubs in Massachusetts to black supporters of school vouchers in Milwaukee. And they drive to the heart of a question that is relevant to us all: why does America seem so different?… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member urhockey22
Great book. Very thorough and the drier topics are kept interesting with great anecdotes obtained through first-hand research. These two Brits have done both the left and right in Americaa service by conducting such a thorough and insightful analysis of the modern American political landscape.
LibraryThing member robotnik
Two smart British journalists break it gently to their countrymen that the U.S. is not about to snap out of it (it being conservatism) any time soon.
LibraryThing member stevenschmitt
In the run up to the 2004 election publishers cranked out more political screeds than there were voters to read them. You know the books I'm talking about, both sides cranked them out - the ones that featured some indignant looking character on the cover with titles using words such as: shut up,
The question the authors set out to answer is, what is the cause of America's decided tilt to the right over the last thirty years. The answers suggested are many, and would behoove any thoughtful reader interested in politics or American culture to consider. For those on the right this book will show that the world of conservative thought did not begin with talk radio, that there existed, and exists today a very directed and active core of conservative intellectuals that in many ways serve as the ballast of what is now the conservative movement. People on the left will benefit to learn that the people whom they disagree are not all just a bunch of illiterate Bible thumpers - and why the those that are illiterate bible thumpers are so decidedly conservative.
Somehow authors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, a couple of Brits, have been able to more clearly understand the American political landscape than even we can. This is one book that will probably be read many years from now and will serve as a work to help future generations understand the political time in which we are living through now. Great book.
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stupid, dumb, fat, idiot, jerk, liar, etc. Yes it was an age when political discourse raged with a fevered pitch, and almost all Americans came out looking like dumb stupid idiot jerks by the time the whole thing was said and done. Somewhere amid all this mindless wrangling came a book that actually set out to understand the American electorate at the beginning of the 21st century in a dispassionate objective and thoughtful way. Written as more of a work of political anthropology it reads more like a book by De Toqueville than Al Franken or Ann Coulter.The question the authors set out to answer is, what is the cause of America's decided tilt to the right over the last thirty years. The answers suggested are many, and would behoove any thoughtful reader interested in politics or American culture to consider. For those on the right this book will show that the world of conservative thought did not begin with talk radio, that there existed, and exists today a very directed and active core of conservative intellectuals that in many ways serve as the ballast of what is now the conservative movement. People on the left will benefit to learn that the people whom they disagree are not all just a bunch of illiterate Bible thumpers - and why the those that are illiterate bible thumpers are so decidedly conservative.
Somehow authors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, a couple of Brits, have been able to more clearly understand the American political landscape than even we can. This is one book that will probably be read many years from now and will serve as a work to help future generations understand the political time in which we are living through now. Great book.
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LibraryThing member WarnerToddHuston
All Americans are conservative
... and HERE is the prime reason why Europe does not understand the USA, and also why Democrats have gone from being Americans that lean left to Europeans that sometimes lean American!
"The Right Nation" shows that we are, indeed, a religious nation, both Democrat and
European conservatives are hidebound and rooted completely in Monarchic pasts, but American conservatism is and always has been a progressive conservatism. And now, the European right is becoming reactionary and racist which is just a reflection of a racism that has never been defeated in Europe as it has in the US.
This book is a must, even for Democrats, if you want to understand the reason Europe doesn't "get" the USA and why we Americans should be wary of becoming too much like Europe. Becoming more like Europe would be an abrogation of everything that has been and should be truly American in nature.
Get this book!
... and HERE is the prime reason why Europe does not understand the USA, and also why Democrats have gone from being Americans that lean left to Europeans that sometimes lean American!
"The Right Nation" shows that we are, indeed, a religious nation, both Democrat and
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Republican. They do a fantastic job explaining American conservatism and why it differs from European conservatism. This point cannot be discussed enough, really.European conservatives are hidebound and rooted completely in Monarchic pasts, but American conservatism is and always has been a progressive conservatism. And now, the European right is becoming reactionary and racist which is just a reflection of a racism that has never been defeated in Europe as it has in the US.
This book is a must, even for Democrats, if you want to understand the reason Europe doesn't "get" the USA and why we Americans should be wary of becoming too much like Europe. Becoming more like Europe would be an abrogation of everything that has been and should be truly American in nature.
Get this book!
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LibraryThing member bingereader
An insightful, well-written, and thoroughly enjoyable read. Perhaps it is because of their distance from the subject at hand, the authors are able to present a work that does not seem ideologically bent in a liberal or conservative direction. This is neither a hate-filled diatribe or a jingoistic,
For me, one of the best books written on understanding the conservative nature of American politics.
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flag-waving anthem from a conservative perspective.For me, one of the best books written on understanding the conservative nature of American politics.
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LibraryThing member sergerca
Excellent! The authors being Brits, they come at their subject very objectively, and generally do a fine job describing, well, me.
Their main contentions that America's conservatism is innate due to our "recent" founding and lack of ties to "old" Europe, religiosity, and suspicion of the state are
Naturally, they spend a lot of ink on current foreign policy and some of their conclusions are being outdated by the minute as the surge gains more momentum in Iraq. However, their reasoning that Right Nation is distrustful of international institutions such as the UN, while correct, is lacking. They attribute it to the US's distrust of "states" in general and our "rugged individualism." The authors seems to overlook minor disgraces such as Oil for Food and don't seem to notice a somewhat concerted effort by America's enemies to use the UN as the only viable counterweight to American power. They rightfully mention the travesties such as Kofi Annan and Rwanda, and Cuba being on the Human Rights Commission, but seem to miss the narrative that the UN is basically out to thwart any values America holds dear.
That said, this is a great overview of how the USA became what it is. Having just traveled to Mexico and experienced anti-Americanism first had for the first time, I think this book would be a wonderful introduction for foreigners to help them learn just what is going on in the US's collective mind (should they be so inclined).
Their main contentions that America's conservatism is innate due to our "recent" founding and lack of ties to "old" Europe, religiosity, and suspicion of the state are
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spot on. Naturally, they spend a lot of ink on current foreign policy and some of their conclusions are being outdated by the minute as the surge gains more momentum in Iraq. However, their reasoning that Right Nation is distrustful of international institutions such as the UN, while correct, is lacking. They attribute it to the US's distrust of "states" in general and our "rugged individualism." The authors seems to overlook minor disgraces such as Oil for Food and don't seem to notice a somewhat concerted effort by America's enemies to use the UN as the only viable counterweight to American power. They rightfully mention the travesties such as Kofi Annan and Rwanda, and Cuba being on the Human Rights Commission, but seem to miss the narrative that the UN is basically out to thwart any values America holds dear.
That said, this is a great overview of how the USA became what it is. Having just traveled to Mexico and experienced anti-Americanism first had for the first time, I think this book would be a wonderful introduction for foreigners to help them learn just what is going on in the US's collective mind (should they be so inclined).
Show Less
LibraryThing member jaygheiser
Fascinating and excellent read by two "Economist" reports, Brits living in US. Provides illuminating explanation of two related areas: first, how and why American political culture is fundamentally different than Europe, and second, what exactly is the c
LibraryThing member kday_working
A history of the Republican party in the USA in the 1960s onwards. A fairly objective account of the conservative/liberal tugs-of-war which explained my whole childhood to me. Perhaps only for diehard American political enthusiasts, but fascinating.
LibraryThing member danoomistmatiste
An interesting study of the power of conservatism in America. The book tries to explain why America has swung to the Right but I think it is more to do with how Republicans have become ascendant over the once powerful Democrats. Did you know that the entire South was staunchly Democratic. It is
The American definition of the Right and for that matter Liberalism is different from how one would view the same from an European standpoint. For this you have to read this snippet from pg 314 The US was designed from ground up to be a true democracy with the values of liberty and freedom enshrined in the constitution. Not like the parliamentary system of Europe which were retrofitted and re jiggered to into some sort of quasi democratic, socialistic humbug.
Here I quote "The rebels didn't just kick out the british; they kicked out the legal trappings of the feudal social order - primo-geniture, entail, titles of nobility, the established church and the rest of it".
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only when they started leaning to the left and become more liberal that they started losing ground to the GOP. So in a sense, the country at large has always been a right leaning nation. The left and liberals were always a minority or confined to minorities like the minorities, intellectuals and urban elite.The American definition of the Right and for that matter Liberalism is different from how one would view the same from an European standpoint. For this you have to read this snippet from pg 314 The US was designed from ground up to be a true democracy with the values of liberty and freedom enshrined in the constitution. Not like the parliamentary system of Europe which were retrofitted and re jiggered to into some sort of quasi democratic, socialistic humbug.
Here I quote "The rebels didn't just kick out the british; they kicked out the legal trappings of the feudal social order - primo-geniture, entail, titles of nobility, the established church and the rest of it".
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LibraryThing member buttsy1
I read this book in 2023, so my impressions are through that prism.
'The Right Nation', published in 2004, in the middle of the George W.Bush presidency, concludes by suggesting that the Republican Party will be in control for the foreseeable future, as the American left has capitulated to the
As an outsider who has only become interested in US politics in recent years, it was interesting to learn that the distrust, and at times hatred, between the two major parties has been around for a long time; political rhetoric has been toxic for ever - it's not a modern phenomenon.
The book made for interesting reading, as it provides an excellent discussion of post-Cold War politics in the USA.
It does reinforce the fact that for all the surface similarities, the USA is definitely different to the rest of the "western" world.
'The Right Nation', published in 2004, in the middle of the George W.Bush presidency, concludes by suggesting that the Republican Party will be in control for the foreseeable future, as the American left has capitulated to the
Show More
better organised right. Remembering when this was published (so, excuses), none of the following are mentioned in this book: Obama, Biden, Trump, Palin, Pence. Nor of course is there any discussion of QAnon, or insurrections, or the power of Twitter (X). Curiously, post Bush, Democrats have been in the White House for 12 of the next 16 years.As an outsider who has only become interested in US politics in recent years, it was interesting to learn that the distrust, and at times hatred, between the two major parties has been around for a long time; political rhetoric has been toxic for ever - it's not a modern phenomenon.
The book made for interesting reading, as it provides an excellent discussion of post-Cold War politics in the USA.
It does reinforce the fact that for all the surface similarities, the USA is definitely different to the rest of the "western" world.
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