America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power

Rating:
Summary: The How, not the Why.
Review:
This book gives a strong presentation on how the political right rose to prominence from the 1950s to now. The story is told by two men who were there & shaped the outcome. It's an insider's perspective I appreciate. It's an easy read, the way a walk down a gravel road in your bare feet is easy. Every once in a while you discover something sharp.

The sharpness here comes not from insight, but from the same stinging barbs hurdled at liberals which, we all know, were thrown from the left. This all sounds and feels like a child's fight, "He started it first. NO! He did." For me, it is a sad distraction.

While the How is of great interest, I want to know the Why and the What. Why did conservatism feel it could not have a say in modern politics? It has to be more than, "Those nasty New Dealers wouldn't let us have a say." And what exactly is it we are talking about? What do conservatives want that's different from liberals (& vice versa)? It's interesting to read how Schlafly defeated the ERA, but why and for what reasons.

I am searching for more, from both sides. I am looking for common ground. It isn't here, but I recommend this book to all who wish to know about the how of our current political climate.


Rating:
Summary: Recommended
Review: America's Right Turn: How Conservaties Used new And Alternative Media To Take Power by political conservative co-authors Richard A. Viguerie and David Franke is an astute evaluation of how conservative political groups in America capitalized upon alternative media - direct mail, talk radio, cable news TV, and the Internet - to spread their message, win elections and earn power. Meticulously accounting and chastizing failures among liberal political elements to seize the advantage of media revolutions, America's Right Turn is meant for liberals and conservatives alike despite the conservative bent of its authors, as it plots out winning strategies for getting one's message across and demonstrates how alternative media will determine the outcomes of future political elections more and more in the years to come. Especially recommended reading for anyone interested in personally becoming involved in political campaigns, whether as a volunteer or a professional occupation.


Rating:
Summary: A great political how-to manual
Review: Conservatives love to complain, rightly, about the bias and mistreatment they've endured at the hands of the mainstream media. Spend a few moments with Google and you'll find countless studies, anecdotes and analysis regarding the hate-hate relationship that conservatives by and large have with Big Media.

In the midst of all the clamoring about conservatives and the media, however - there's a story that's largely been left untold (until now): how conservatives abandoned (in a sense) that mainstream media in favor of new and alternative media. The truth is: while conservatives have been getting kicked around like a rented mule in the mainstream media for a long, long time - at the same time they've been pioneers of new and alternative media: direct mail, cable television, talk radio, and the Internet.

They used these (at the time) secret weapons to build a movement, take control of a party, elect a President, and drive their issues and philosophy to the center stage of American politics. They followed the tradition of the pamphleteers of the American Founding to get ahead of the politicians and the intelligentsia and take what they wanted.

Now for the first time, that story has been told. In America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New & Alternative Media to Take Power, right-wing direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie and his co-author David Franke chronicle how conservatives decided in the wake of the Goldwater defeat that they would never get a fair shake in the New York Times (ok, that's not news and wasn't then, either) and that they had better figure out another way to communicate with the American people.

One of the great things about this book is that since the technology of alternative media is itself philosophically neutral, it doesn't matter if you're a liberal or conservative - you can benefit from its insights.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Political Primer For Any Side
Review: The book goes through the history of political communication--starting with the invention of the printing press, the use of pamphlets by Martin Luther to spread his message, a comprehensive history of direct mail, and the effects of talk radio, the Internet and blogs on political communication.

Despite the fact that the book is written from a conservative point of view, liberals should also be interested in what it has to say about political communication, as both Viguerie and co-author David Franks are very good about calling things as they see them. They are more than willing to give liberals credit where credit is due in terms of political organization and getting out their message (example: Viguerie and Franks point out that after a slow start, liberals are doing quite well in the direct mail game, and are better than conservatives at using the Internet for political organization purposes--which is why Red State is such an important vehicle for the Right to use to catch up). While the conservative ideology definitely comes through in the book, it serves as a how-to guide for all sides in terms of communicating their messages and organizing.

So if you are a politics junkie, be sure to buy the book.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Political History
Review: This book, though written from a conservative perspective, is more moderate in tone than most conservative political books. It may be of interest to liberals as well as conservatives, because it chronicles both the left's and the right's use of alternative media, including direct mail, the radio, the internet, and cable television. For someone of my generation, it is difficult to recall a time when the major networks and newspapers had a monopoly over the news, and this book reminded me that sources of information were not always as diverse as they are now. As a conservative who is want to bemoan the bias of network news and papers like The Washington Post, I sometimes forget that things are not so bad as they seem: alternate views are now available through alternative media, media which is becoming increasingly more accessible and popular.

America's Right Turn is a political history and not a political diatribe. It offers intriguing insights into the reasons for the rise of alternative media, as well as for the reasons why conservatives have generally made better use of these alternatives than have liberals. I learned some new-to-me factoids, such as the interesting statistic that self-identified conservatives consume far more news (both mainstream/liberal and conservative/alternative) than do self-identified liberals. The book also made me aware of how much the government is capable of stifling conservative expression--how it did so in the past, how it is doing so now with campaign finance reform (which also affects liberal expression), and how it may seek to do so in the future. The book suffers from some redundancy (in some cases it seemed I was reading entire paragraphs more than once), but it is a worthwhile read.