American Theocracy Part 2: CLEAR and PRESENT DANGERS

By describing a series of major transformations, by demonstrating the relationships among them and by discussing them with passionate restraint, Phillips has created a harrowing picture of national danger that no American reader will welcome, but that none should ignore.

Got this email summary of the NY Times Book Review by Alan Brinkley entitled

"CLEAR and PRESENT DANGERS"

Four decades ago, Kevin Phillips, a young political
strategist for the Republican Party, began work on what
became a remarkable book, "The Emerging Republican Majority"
(1969). Phillips long ago abandoned his enthusiasm for the
Republican coalition he helped to build. His latest book (his
13th) looks broadly and historically at the political world
the conservative coalition has painstakingly constructed over
the last several decades.

He presents a nightmarish vision of ideological extremism, catastrophic fiscal irresponsibility, rampant greed and dangerous shortsightedness. In an era of best-selling jeremiads on both sides of the political divide, "American Theocracy" may be the most alarming analysis of where we are and where we may be going to have appeared in many years. It is not without polemic, but unlike many of the more glib and strident political commentaries of recent years, it is extensively researched and for the most part frighteningly persuasive.

I almost always like any review or essay that includes the word 'jeremiad'. It also reminds me of Three Dog Night. Complete book review here.

NYT Reviews of Featured Author Kevin Phillips' "The Emerging Republican Majority" (1969), "Wealth and Democracy" (2002) and others here.