6/23/2023 0 Comments Before the storm barry goldwater![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() On the one hand, we see the “suspicious circles,” a group of overly confident, critical, academic, liberal types. Perlstein presents a core dichotomy at the heart of the 1970s American malaise. And no one comes out looking good at all, liberals and conservatives alike. But if you are looking for heroes, this is not the book-or era-for you. And let’s face it: anyone who can keep a reader’s attention in a tome that covers only three years (1973 to 1976) in over 800 pages deserves some kudos. The twists and turns along the way are more than worth the ride by anyone interested in high-level politics and intrigue as well as those with a bent toward the cultural side of the dreary-and violent-seventies. In this newest volume, Perlstein examines a brief period when “America suffered more wounds to its ideal of itself than at just about any other time in its history” (xiii). Cover of Before the Storm (left) and Nixonland (right) both by Rick Perlstein. With The Invisible Bridge, Rick Perlstein-a journalist by profession, but one with a keen eye toward the historical-completes his trilogy chronicling the rise of what has been varyingly referred to as “modern conservatism” or the “New Right.” Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, the first in the series, won the 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in history, and The New York Times named the second book Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America as a 2008 notable book of the year. ![]()
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