| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 108.5

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 305 words from this article are provided below; about 543 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 108.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Niels Bjerre-Poulsen. Right Face: Organizing the American Conservative Movement 1945–65. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. 2002. Pp. 333. $29.95.
Niels Bjerre-Poulsen's book is an easy-to-read overview of the political evolution of post-World War II conservatism. Explaining in his introduction that he is not concerned with the "social psychology" (p. 11) of conservatives, he instead wants to explore their "political mobilization." As a result, he concentrates on analyzing rightwing efforts to join the political mainstream, with particular attention to their efforts to win control of the Republican Party. In doing so, the author covers no new ground, but does provide a good breakdown of the key events and people leading to the conservative triumph within the GOP.	1
To accomplish his goal, Bjerre-Poulsen details the growth of the right wing from a small, disorganized collection of intellectuals and politicians into an organized, effective network of political operatives. Beginning with a discussion of the philosophical differences between traditionalists and libertarians, Bjerre-Poulsen traces the background of each viewpoint in terms of its intellectual underpinnings and political perspective. From there he describes the various attempts to create a national movement. Conservatives worked on this goal from two angles: trying to fuse their disparate parts into a united whole, and working to present their perspective to the American public through the media. They succeeded in forming a unified front less because of these efforts and more because they found common ground in their loathing of communism. Bjerre-Poulsen also credits William F. Buckley, Jr., and his magazine, National Review, with playing a key role in providing a voice to the newly emerging national conservative movement. (Throughout the book, in fact, the author pays homage to Buckley and his cohort for their role in transforming conservatism into a viable political movement.)	. . .

There are about 543 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.