Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus Summary and Reviews

Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus
by Rick Perlstein

Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus
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Book Summary Information

Author: Rick Perlstein
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04-15
ISBN: 0809028581
Number of pages: 688
Publisher: Hill and Wang

Book Reviews of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus

Book Review: Overly analytical yet highly interesting view of Barry Goldwater and the rise of modern conservatism
Summary: 3 Stars

I found this book to be on many accounts a very interesting account of the birth of modern conservatism and the atmosphere of the U.S. in 1964 which lead to its emergence. Still, I found that the author went out of his way to paint the birth as a negative thing, obvious by the title, and something that has harmed the country more than helped it.

The portrayal of Barry Goldwater the man is very negative. He is often portrayed as garrulous bordering on rude when the fact was that Goldwater was plainspoken and made no apologies for who he was or what he thought. Heaven forbid that today. Also, the grassroots organizations that helped to place Goldwater at the head of the ticket in 1964 as executing a type of putsch over preferred candidates. Yes the candidates were preferred but not by Republican rank and file. Lastly, very little attention is given to the failures of the Democrats or the fact that the long grouping of Southern Democrats and northern machine bosses, neither of whom were very democratic, were falling apart when faced with voter dissatisfaction.

Overall this is a long book and it does a great job of describing a point in time. Be prepared to deal with the author's biases against both Goldwater and those who brought him to power.

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