A jarring analysis of a powerful and determined political minority bent on power.
Two sociologists examine polling data and American history to chart the dangerous rise of White Christian nationalism.
The so-called Christian right isn’t strictly Christian, write Gorski and Perry. They point to one survey in which one-fifth of those who identified as “Christian” also said they were secular or belonged to some other religion, meaning that “religious terms like ‘Christian’ and ‘evangelical’ are becoming markers of social identity rather than just religious conviction.” Many Christian nationalists are aggrieved Whites who believe that liberals are bent on “replacing” them with immigrants and minorities. By the logic of those adherents, events such as the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol are not insurrectionary but instead acts of self-defense, a violence that Christ’s purported followers endorse with full throats. Interestingly, according to Gorski and Perry, this Christian right, at whose heart lies “anti-Black animus” that dates back hundreds of years (whence the furor over the corrective 1619 Project), does not consider Muslims or even atheists to be existentially threatening. The real, dreaded enemies are “socialists,” and even if many Christian right-wingers probably couldn’t define what a socialist is, the thinking is that everything from taxes to the pandemic lockdowns are socialist ploys to take away rights that White Christian nationalists believe should be reserved unto Whites. Unfortunately, given the trajectory of American history, the authors write, there is no reason to think that this movement will fade away anytime soon. If decentralized power means that the worst of nationalist authoritarianism would be localized if Trump or some acolyte came to power, the authors suggest that it would be disastrous all the same: “Ironically, a serious attempt to ‘make America great again’ would probably end up making it chaotic and poor.”
A jarring analysis of a powerful and determined political minority bent on power.Pub Date: April 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-19-761868-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges.
Helping liberals get out of their own way.
Klein, a New York Times columnist, and Thompson, an Atlantic staffer, lean to the left, but they aren’t interrogating the usual suspects. Aware that many conservatives have no interest in their opinions, the authors target their own side’s “pathologies.” Why do red states greenlight the kind of renewable energy projects that often languish in blue states? Why does liberal California have the nation’s most severe homelessness and housing affordability crises? One big reason: Liberal leadership has ensnared itself in a web of well-intentioned yet often onerous “goals, standards, and rules.” This “procedural kludge,” partially shaped by lawyers who pioneered a “democracy by lawsuit” strategy in the 1960s, threatens to stymie key breakthroughs. Consider the anti-pollution laws passed after World War II. In the decades since, homeowners’ groups in liberal locales have cited such statutes in lawsuits meant to stop new affordable housing. Today, these laws “block the clean energy projects” required to tackle climate change. Nuclear energy is “inarguably safer” than the fossil fuel variety, but because Washington doesn’t always “properly weigh risk,” it almost never builds new reactors. Meanwhile, technologies that may cure disease or slash the carbon footprint of cement production benefit from government support, but too often the grant process “rewards caution and punishes outsider thinking.” The authors call this style of governing “everything-bagel liberalism,” so named because of its many government mandates. Instead, they envision “a politics of abundance” that would remake travel, work, and health. This won’t happen without “changing the processes that make building and inventing so hard.” It’s time, then, to scrutinize everything from municipal zoning regulations to the paperwork requirements for scientists getting federal funding. The authors’ debut as a duo is very smart and eminently useful.
Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges.Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781668023488
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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