God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right

Front Cover
OUP USA, Jul 12, 2012 - History - 400 pages
When the Christian Right burst onto the scene in the late 1970s, many political observers were shocked. But, as God's Own Party demonstrates, they shouldn't have been. The Christian Right goes back much farther than most journalists, political scientists, and historians realize. Relying on extensive archival and primary source research, Daniel K. Williams presents the first comprehensive history of the Christian Right, uncovering how evangelicals came to see the Republican Party as the vehicle through which they could reclaim America as a Christian nation. A fascinating and much-needed account of a key force in American politics, God's Own Party is the only full-scale analysis of the electoral shifts, cultural changes, and political activists at the movement's core--showing how the Christian Right redefined politics as we know it.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
From Isolation to Influence
11
The Emergence of a Fundamentalist Right
33
God and Country during the Kennedy Presidency
49
The Christian Silent Majority
69
Nixons Evangelical Strategy
89
The Grassroots Campaign to Save the Family
105
Photos
133
Culture Wars in the Carter Years
133
Moral Majority
159
Reagan
187
Crashing the Party
213
Capturing the White House
245
Notes
277
Index
343
Copyright

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About the author (2012)

Daniel K. Williams is Associate Professor of History at the University of West Georgia.