Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments: A narrative history of the John Birch Society by a daughter of one of the infamous ultraconservative organization’s founding fathers
The John Birch Society is a radical right-wing organization established in 1958 resonates strongly with the causes championed by the Religious Right and the Tea Party movement, including campaigns against civil rights, abortion, gay rights, labor unions, environmental protections, immigrant rights, social and welfare programs, the United Nations, and even water fluoridation. Worshipping their anti-Communist hero Joe McCarthy, the society is perhaps most notorious for its red-baiting and for accusing top politicians, including President Dwight Eisenhower, of being Communist sympathizers. They labeled John F. Kennedy a traitor and actively worked to unseat him. The Birch Society boasted a high-profile membership, including Fred Koch, father of the Koch brothers, who today are using their father’s millions to bankroll fundamentalist and ultraconservative movements. Claire Conner, pressed into signing the Birch membership book at age thirteen, is now a dedicated progressive and activist. Her intimate account—based on records, documents, and firsthand knowledge—gives us an inside look at one of the most radical right-wing movements in U.S. history and how it affects our political discourse today.
About the Author
Claire Conner’s father was a national spokesperson for the John Birch Society for more than thirty years; her mother was also a staunch follower. Conner holds a degree in English with honors from the University of Dallas and a graduate degree from the University of Wisconsin. She lives in Tampa, Florida.
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