Review

In this fascinating book the authors argue that "the failure of 'big government' liberalism at home and abroad and a conservative backlash, especially among white southerners, to legislation promoting racial equality and other liberal policies fractured the Democratic party and escalated Republican influence after 1968" (p.XIII). To prove their thesis, the authors examine all forces that tore apart the Roosevelt Coalition and separated the solid South from the Democratic party. They also demonstrate how the Republican party cleverly crafted its message to attract these disaffected Democrats, especially white Southern Democrats. While breaking no new ground, the authors present a very credible and believable argument.	1
The book is constructed in such a way that the transition from topic to topic is smooth and seamless. Chapter One presents a brief history of the GOP prior to 1968. The remaining chapters address what the authors see as the four stages of Republican ascendancy. Chapter Two deals with stage one, the election of Richard Nixon in 1968 and the development of a "Southern Strategy". Chapter Three examines the legacy of Nixon's corrupt administration. The authors argue the Nixon scandals set back Republican fortunes during the 1974–1980 period, the second stage. Nevertheless, the groundwork was laid for the third stage—the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan. Chapter Four deals with the so-called Reagan Revolution and the Bush I presidencies. Here the authors argue that Reagan and Bush, while stressing economic conservatism and anticommunist nationalism, were able to push the government rightward only at the fringes. Chapter Five deals with the fourth stage—the Congressional elections of 1994 and the rise and fall of Newt Gingrich. The authors argue that this stage represented Republican power at its height. Yet the strident conservatism of Gingrich and his followers provoked a strong public backlash, and in the final chapter, the authors contend that the public backlash in the late 1990s enabled candidate George .W. Bush to distance himself from the GOP's right-wing image in the 2000 Presidential election. However they also demonstrate that Bush owed his victory to the conservative strategies first developed and used by Nixon in 1968.	2
The book has several strong points. The first is the authors' clear writing style that makes the book a very easy read. Second, the authors make masterful use of voting statistics to enhance their arguments concerning the rise of the GOP on the national and state levels. Third, their analysis is clear and balanced. It is free of any political bias and opinion. Lastly, the book contains an extensive bibliographical essay that provides the reader with additional sources to further pursue the topics discussed in the book.	3
This book is a worthy addition to the historiography of American political parties. As a teaching tool, it would be very useful in a course on either the college or high school level, on American politics and parties from the sixties to the present.	4
Bishop Connolly High School Fall River, Massachusetts Michael A. Vieira

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