When I arrived at my new government relations job in Washington, DC, in 1979, my boss called and asked if I had read Atlas Shrugged; I answered no; he ordered me to go buy it right away, and to go home and read it! :)
Now I'm reading Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right: Walsh, David Austin: 9780300260977 (2024):
"A provocative look at the relationship between the far right and the American conservative movement from the 1930s to the end of the Cold War.
Since 2016, many commentators have expressed shock at the so-called rise of the far right in America at the expense of “responsible” and “respectable” conservatism. But is the far right an aberration in conservative politics?
As David Austin Walsh shows, the mainstream conservative movement and the far right have been intertwined for nearly a century . . . ."
"Worshipped by her fans, denounced by her enemies, and forever shadowed by controversy and scandal, the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand was a powerful thinker whose views on government and markets shaped the conservative movement from its earliest days."
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check out Walsh's book. I'm familiar with Goddess of the Market. Also, Alan Taylor just published a new book in his US History series that I quite like, called American Civil Wars (1850-1873), which might shed some light.
When I arrived at my new government relations job in Washington, DC, in 1979, my boss called and asked if I had read Atlas Shrugged; I answered no; he ordered me to go buy it right away, and to go home and read it! :)
Now I'm reading Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right: Walsh, David Austin: 9780300260977 (2024):
"A provocative look at the relationship between the far right and the American conservative movement from the 1930s to the end of the Cold War.
Since 2016, many commentators have expressed shock at the so-called rise of the far right in America at the expense of “responsible” and “respectable” conservatism. But is the far right an aberration in conservative politics?
As David Austin Walsh shows, the mainstream conservative movement and the far right have been intertwined for nearly a century . . . ."
Also check out [Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right (Oxford University Press, 2009) | Department of History](https://history.stanford.edu/publications/goddess-market-ayn-rand-and-american-right-oxford-university-press-2009)
"Worshipped by her fans, denounced by her enemies, and forever shadowed by controversy and scandal, the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand was a powerful thinker whose views on government and markets shaped the conservative movement from its earliest days."
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check out Walsh's book. I'm familiar with Goddess of the Market. Also, Alan Taylor just published a new book in his US History series that I quite like, called American Civil Wars (1850-1873), which might shed some light.