Publishers Weekly
02/13/2023
Historian Dallek (Defenseless Under the Night) argues in this comprehensive and enlightening account that the John Birch Society’s organizational and political model catalyzed a decades-long radicalization of the modern Republican Party. Named after an American missionary killed by Chinese communist forces, the Society was founded in 1958 by “a small band of anti–New Deal businessmen” under the leadership of retired candy executive Robert Welch. Dallek details a steady program of expansion in the 1960s on the back of innovative organizing strategies, including the use of high-profile, single-issue campaigns to attract new members. With growth, however, the secretive pragmatism of the earliest Birchers gave way to public outbursts of wild-eyed conspiracy mongering. Though the Society’s influence faded in mid–1970s, its conspiratorial style and staunch opposition to federal regulations were taken up by conservative media outlets and activists like the Koch brothers (whose father was a founding member), giving rise to a “toxic fringe” that “eventually cannibalized the entire party.” Dallek sheds valuable light on the Anti-Defamation League’s efforts to infiltrate the Birchers, and incisively analyzes how establishment Republicans’ attempts to “hav it both ways” by relying on the support of rank-and-file Birchers while distancing themselves from the group’s “racism, antisemitism, and conspiracy thinking” backfired. This is a treasure trove for political history buffs. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Illuminating…In addition to Dallek’s scrupulous research, he knows how to tell this story with a clarifying elegance and restraint.”—New York Times
“Dallek’s book is quick-paced and well researched. However troubling, it is a joy to read.”—Guardian
“Dallek’s account — of the 'halting' and clumsy effort by conservatives to simultaneously exploit and contain Bircher energies — is both well-told and depressingly familiar.”—Washington Post
"Dallek’s history is valuable for anyone who wants to understand where the conspiratorial and apocalyptic bent in today’s right-wing politics came from... A central lesson of [Dallek's] book is: Don’t assume that just because a group is isolated, kooky, or fringe it will never penetrate the halls of power...Kooks should not be underestimated." —Nation
“[W]ell-researched work, whose details lay out a society worth remembering, and a history that is relevant for today...”—National Review
“Impressive new history…You do not have to agree with Dallek’s thesis to find his book worth reading.”—Financial Times
“What makes Birchers so enthralling, ultimately, is Dallek’s willingness to hold up a mirror to the political establishment, if not his own readership. Birchism’s triumphant return, he suggests, is itself an indictment of the broader liberal project: quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan have bred a deep distrust of the federal government, while galloping inequality across Democratic and Republican administrations alike has helped create an opening for the Right’s ersatz populism.” —Jacobin
“Matthew Dallek’s excellent new history, Birchers, argues convincingly that this ‘movement from the 1960s, long thought dead, is casting its shadow across the United States’. Dallek offers not just a definitive history of the John Birch Society but also an insight into how we got to where we are today."—Irish Times
"Dallek...has waded through thousands of documents to offer a compelling and richly detailed account of the society’s activities in the 1960s...Dallek deserves high praise for disinterring the history of the movement in such minute detail. He amply demonstrates that the conspiracism and hate propagated by the Birchers helped lay the groundwork for the MAGA movement decades later." —Washington Monthly
“Highly readable.”—Jewish Book Council
"[A] compelling treatment of the origins, evolution, and integration of a fringe movement into the heart of American conservative politics... Fascinating... Important." —Bucks County Beacon
“A timely, critically important contribution to the history of our present political and constitutional crisis.”—Kirkus, starred review
“In this crisp history of the John Birch Society (JBS), [Dallek] details its influence on the radicalization of the modern Republican party…Based on extensive archival research, this timely account of the John Birch Society is essential for readers interested in U.S. political history and far-right extremism.”—Library Journal, starred review
“Comprehensive and enlightening…This is a treasure trove for political history buffs.”—Publishers Weekly
“In Cold War America, no organization on the right was larger or more influential than the John Birch Society. Matthew Dallek’s perceptive, engrossing narrative reveals as never before how a group funded by wealthy businessmen and organized at the grassroots level changed the Republican Party—and the nation. Birchers is one of the best and most essential histories of modern conservatism that has ever been written.”—Michael Kazin, author of What It Took to Win
“The John Birch Society was once considered so far out on the paranoid fringe it was synonymous with kookiness. In his fascinating and scrupulously researched narrative, Dallek shows how the Republican Party’s extremists took over the GOP. Revelatory and readable, Birchers is essential history for anyone trying to understand American politics.”—Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money
“Before MAGA, there was the John Birch Society, an organization known to many but understood by very few. Dallek has penetrated the fog. His superbly researched and well-written history shows us exactly who the Birchers were and why they mattered—and still matter today.”—Sam Tanenhaus, author of The Death of Conservatism
“A fascinating and much-needed look at the strange but vital history of the John Birch Society. Long dismissed as a fringe movement, the Birchers and their conspiratorial style have found new life in the Trump-era right. This is just the history we need to understand today’s political predicament.”—Beverly Gage, author of G-Man
“Birchers is an eye-opening account of the decades-long struggle to organize the radical right in the United States—and to bring the far-right into electoral politics. This deeply researched account exposes the inner workings of the secretive organization, the deep-pocketed and high-powered activists who joined its ranks, and the everyday Americans drawn into its conspiratorial web.”—Nicole Hemmer, author of Partisans
Library Journal
★ 03/24/2023
In this crisp history of the John Birch Society (JBS), Dallek (political management, George Washington Univ.; Defenseless Under the Night: The Roosevelt Years and the Origins of Homeland Security) details its influence on the radicalization of the modern Republican party. Named after a Christian missionary killed by communists in China, the JBS was founded in 1958 by retired candy executive Robert H.W. Welch and other anti—New Deal business owners. From its inception, the group gained notoriety for being racist, antisemitic, and supportive of conspiracy theories. Its members were also known for harassing politicians and officials they considered weak on communism. Dallek argues that in the 1970s, JBS's influence on the Republican party became more visible. Televangelists such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell began pushing ideas similar to the group's conspiracy theories, while David and Charles Koch, sons of JBS founding member Fred Koch, used their wealth to support like-minded politicians and fund think tanks. The author argues that JBS laid the groundwork for contemporary right-wing and anti-democratic extremism in the United States, such as Donald Trump's COVID denialism, attacks on immigrants, and Congress's Freedom Caucus. VERDICT Based on extensive archival research, this timely account of the John Birch Society is essential for readers interested in U.S. political history and far-right extremism.—Chad E. Statler
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-12-20
Historical study of the resentful figures who helped take over one of the world’s oldest political parties.
Any student of American political culture is aware of the John Birch Society, and few can dismiss the impact of this fringe group on current national politics. Founded in 1958 by Republican Robert Welch, the organization laid the groundwork for Donald Trump’s capture of the Republican Party. From the beginning, Birchers have maintained a witches brew of hyperpatriotism, anti-communist paranoia, religious moralism, racism, antisemitism, violent invective, apocalyptic conspiratorial fantasies, and “raw hate.” In addition to an astute history of the John Birch Society, Dallek, a professor of history and political management and the author of Defenseless Under the Night and The Right Moment, examines its heirs, including Phyllis Schlafly, Pat Buchanan, Alex Jones, the tea party, and, of course, Trump. The author makes an irrefutable case that the JBS “did more than any other conservative entity to propel this extremist takeover” by Trump, et al. While written in the typical uninflected voice of contemporary histories, the book effectively demonstrates how one can “see, in COVID denialism, vaccine disinformation, America First nationalism, school board wars, QAnon plots, and allegations of electoral cheating, a movement from the 1960s, long thought dead, casting its shadow across the United States.” Though the “Birchers were hardly the only movement that helped to radicalize conservatism and the Republican Party,” Dallek credits the JBS with stoking the proliferation of “a host of canny successors that put extremist themes, ideas, and techniques into general circulation.” The author’s freshest discovery is that the Anti-Defamation League skillfully succeeded in infiltrating the JBS as “part of a sprawling, informal coalition seeking to discredit the Birchers”—even if it failed to eliminate the poison that continues to infect the GOP.
A timely, critically important contribution to the history of our present political and constitutional crisis.
