by Darren Dochuk. This well-written intellectual and political history traces the emergence of the evangelical wing of the Republican Party from the early 1930s to the national ascent of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Dochuk (Purdue) follows migration patterns from the southern and southwestern edges of the Dust Bowl in search of opportunity in southern California, where migrants prospered under the New Deal and wartime economy. But their religious fundamentalism prompted a suspicion of the very government that enabled their successes; their faith consoled "the heart without troubling the mind." Billy Graham, Ronald Reagan, and Pepperdine College (now University) embodied the shift from the New Deal to the Cold War and from regional to national prominence. Together, these three reinforced the vision of evangelical claims that the New Deal/Great Society represented an assault on American values and Christian liberty through incipient socialism. Learning from the debacle of Goldwater's defeat in 1964, the religious and political Right of Southern California strengthened ties to the South; these played out successfully in Nixon's 1968 victory via his "southern strategy." Dochuk reminds readers that the rise of evangelical-based politics accompanied the rise of Southern California after the Great Depression and, as California's influence grew, so did the clout of evangelicals. --Choice (Check Catalog)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
From Bible belt to sunbelt : plain-folk religion, grassroots politics, and the rise of evangelical conservatism
by Darren Dochuk. This well-written intellectual and political history traces the emergence of the evangelical wing of the Republican Party from the early 1930s to the national ascent of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Dochuk (Purdue) follows migration patterns from the southern and southwestern edges of the Dust Bowl in search of opportunity in southern California, where migrants prospered under the New Deal and wartime economy. But their religious fundamentalism prompted a suspicion of the very government that enabled their successes; their faith consoled "the heart without troubling the mind." Billy Graham, Ronald Reagan, and Pepperdine College (now University) embodied the shift from the New Deal to the Cold War and from regional to national prominence. Together, these three reinforced the vision of evangelical claims that the New Deal/Great Society represented an assault on American values and Christian liberty through incipient socialism. Learning from the debacle of Goldwater's defeat in 1964, the religious and political Right of Southern California strengthened ties to the South; these played out successfully in Nixon's 1968 victory via his "southern strategy." Dochuk reminds readers that the rise of evangelical-based politics accompanied the rise of Southern California after the Great Depression and, as California's influence grew, so did the clout of evangelicals. --Choice (Check Catalog)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment