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

In an astute and surprising history of the 1960s as the cradle of the conservative movement, Perlstein's gutsy narrative history profiles the rise of Barry Goldwater, the rich, handsome Arizona Republican who scorned the federal bureaucracy and despised l.;Preface; 1 The Manionites; 2 Merchant Prince; 3 Working Together for the World; 4 Conscience; 5 The Meeting of the Blue and White Nile; 6 Quickening; 7 Stories of Orange County; 8 Apocalyptics; 9 Off Year; 10 Suite 3505; 11 Mobs; 12 New Mood in Politics; 13 Granite State; 14 President of All the People; 15 United and at Peace with Itself ... ; 16 Golden State; 17 Duty; 18 Conventions; 19 Don't Mention the Great Pumpkin; 20 Campaign Trails; 21 Citizens; 22 Foregone Conclusions; Notes; Selected Bibliography; Acknowledgments; Index; Permissions Acknowledgments. "Combining prodigious research with journalistic flair, Rick Perlstein. . .has produced a detailed and dramatic narrative of the rise of the modern right ... It's an amazing story, and Perlstein, a man of the left, does it justice."--William Kristol, "The New York Times Book Review" "Daring, virtuosic writing, and encyclopedic mastery make ... [Before the Storm] one of the most stylish, riveting achievements in narrative history to appear in years ... An exciting volume, an outstanding debut. It goes beyond conservatism. It ups the ante on what popular history can, and should, do."-- Mark Greif, "The Village Voice." "Acclaimed historian Rick Perlstein chronicles the rise of the conservative movement in the liberal 1960s. At the heart of the story is Barry Goldwater, the renegade Republican from Arizona who loathed federal government, despised liberals, and mocked "peaceful coexistence" with the USSR. Perlstein's narrative shines a light on a whole world of conservatives and their antagonists, including William F. Buckley, Nelson Rockefeller, and Bill Moyers. Vividly written, Before the Storm is an essential book about the 1960s."-- Provided by publisher

Acclaimed historian Rick Perlstein chronicles the rise of the conservative movement in the liberal 1960s. At the heart of the story is Barry Goldwater, the renegade Republican from Arizona who loathed federal government, despised liberals, and mocked “peaceful coexistence” with the USSR. Perlstein’s narrative shines a light on a whole world of conservatives and their antagonists, including William F. Buckley, Nelson Rockefeller, and Bill Moyers. Vividly written, Before the Storm is an essential book about the 1960s.

Imagine you lived in a town of twenty, or fifty, or one hundred thousand souls-in Indiana, perhaps, or Illinois, or Missouri, or Tennessee-with a colonnaded red-brick city hall at its center, a Main Street running its breadth, avenues rimmed with modest bungalows and named for trees and exotic heroes and local luminaries, interrupted at intervals by high-steepled churches.