Birchers, Matthew Dallek
Birchers, Matthew Dallek
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Birchers
How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right

Author: Matthew Dallek

Narrator: Donald Corren

Unabridged: 11 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 03/21/2023

Synopsis

How a notorious far right organization set the Republican Party on a long march toward extremism
 
At the height of the John Birch Society’s activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, “Birchers” believed that a vast communist conspiracy existed in America and posed an existential threat to Christianity, capitalism, and freedom. But as historian Matthew Dallek reveals, the Birch Society’s extremism remade American conservatism. Most Birchers were white professionals who were radicalized as growing calls for racial and gender equality appeared to upend American life. Conservative leaders recognized that these affluent voters were needed to win elections, and for decades the GOP courted Birchers and their extremist successors. The far right steadily gained power, finally toppling the Republican establishment and electing Donald Trump.
 
Birchers is a deeply researched and indispensable new account of the rise of extremism in the United States.
 
 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Phillip on September 15, 2024

The John Birch Society founded in 1958 by right wing millionaires was considered too extreme for mainstream politics in the 1960s but its influence can been seen in the current Republican party. The John Birchers used conspiracy theories to discredit their opposition that included the civil rights a......more

Goodreads review by Boukie's on December 23, 2022

As someone who already had a good understanding of the history and impact of the John Birch Society, I found this book to be a wonderful resource for anyone who is interested in how and why the USA is in such a weird and awful place. This is one of those books that we'll point to for a long while an......more

Goodreads review by Morgan on February 10, 2023

An absolute must read for anyone interested learning about the John Birch Society. Dallek tells the history of JBS from its founding to how their beliefs are still echoed today in an informative and interesting way. Thank you to Basic Books and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest revie......more

Goodreads review by Alex on May 12, 2023

If you're a devoted reader of political nonfiction or self-described scholar of right-wing extremism like me, this is the next book for you. Like many books I have read, I picked this one up after reading a related article by its author, in which he discussed the role of the John Birch Society in Am......more

Goodreads review by GrahamReads on March 02, 2025

Just finished: New York: Basic Books, 2022. Sometimes you read a book so brilliantly argued and convincing enough that it changes how you think about it from the start to finish. Initially I thought Dallek's argument was built around presentism. The Birchers protested schools for what they taught, lib......more

Quotes

“Before MAGA, there was the John Birch Society, an organization known to many but understood by very few. Matthew 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

“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, Matthew 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

"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

"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

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