Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive For Permanent Power

by Thomas Byrne Edsall

It's no secret that the Republicans are aiming for a generation-long realignment that will establish them as the majority party for the rest of our lifetimes. But few people outside the far right understand what that means. Any realignment has huge effects on political culture, and this one is more ambitious than any other in our history, including the Democratic takeover in the 1930s. It is the first deliberate realignment. It involves cultural changes--in the media and in the academy--that were never part of previous realignments. And it encompasses institutional changes in areas like foreign policy and the judiciary, whose independence was always respected in the past. Every aspect of society and every office of government is being turned to the purpose of strengthening Republican institutions--businesses, evangelical Protestant churches--and weakening Democratic ones, such as unions and consumer groups. Building Red America will bring home to readers for the first time the true extent of the Republican takeover of American politics, by revealing the chief architects of political revolution. The result is a masterful--and disturbing--work of political journalism that challenges all of us to wake up and take heed before the world has changed beyond recognition.

Genres: Politics, Political Science, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Chris Lund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible, but not that great either. Kind of repetitive, and at times it felt like I was just reading a Buzzfeed list rather than a work of journalism or scholarship. The gist of the book basically seems to be "Democrats are split between rich white liberal elites and a loose coalition of various minority groups, and Republicans are made up of super rich capitalists who know how to market their party to middle class white religious racists" (My words, not the author's). There are some good points made, and a few ideas that are worth thinking about, but a lot of this also seems very dated, such as the way the author stresses how the only two Democrats to be elected President in the past 40 years were moderate Southerners. Probably not worth the read unless this is a topic you're intensely interested in.

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago — when Obama was president — and thought it merely good. Back then I took Edsall's worries about the GOP having a permanent electoral advantage to be a tad hyperbolic, not fully justified. He writes in the Preface:

The GOP has succeeded in institutionalizing a powerful, well-funded, durable infrastructure protecting conservative legislation and regulatory policies to secure ground it has gained, even when Democrats intermittently wrest control of one or more of the branches of government.

Now I've read this book again and I still think Edsall's worries are sometimes hyberbolic. But maybe he's right and I'm wrong. He marshals many facts & figures to support his claims about broad cultural changes seeping through society and electoral outcomes—most of which might strike the general readers as 'insider baseball,' but strike me as very interesting, maybe worrisome, too. Given that this was published in August 2006, some of his analysis back then now strike me as spot-on, prescient.

This is a good book. Maybe my enthusiasm for it is itself hyperbolic. But maybe Edsall's identified something permanent & hard about our country's future. I'll have to reread this in the future to see if, with the benefit of hindsight, his analysis in 2006 has proven true.

I love Edsall. Read the stuff of his future books here.

[Yulian Bodescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating read, due to being written just prior to the 2007-2008 financial crisis. I'll have to look for a revisiting of this where he directly engages what he wrote in this book. In many ways, this is enlightening; tracing the origins of the alliance between big business, racists, homophobes, the hyper-religious, all of which pretty much ending where you'd expect if you've done any reading of the sort recently, but still informative.

[Scott Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Edsall articulated differences between the political parties in this 2006 text. Interestingly, in 2020 the differences he identified have played themselves out like a well-implemented master plan. It's obvious that the two major parties in the US are not playing the same game. And we are only further apart in 2020 than we were in 2006. And not likely to come together any time soon. Well written. Clearly presented perspectives. Definitely a "good read"!

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought of this as an extension of Chain Reaction (1992 by Edsall), picking up at the start of the Clinton Administration and working toward the 2004 national elections. Not a great deal new here but simplistic enough to have undergraduates read and (hopefully) comprehend.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a political junkie and so had to read this one. It's an eye opener.