Book Review–Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right

I think a real weakness of progressives is our lack of knowledge of our opponents. We think we know about the Right but I don’t see a whole lot of evidence that we do. How many of us have spent time in fundamentalist churches? How many of us talk to conservatives every day? Do we sit around and try to figure out what the appeal of television evangelists are? Some of us come from conservative families or right-wing religious backgrounds but by no means do all progressives have this knowledge. And I think it is key to gain a greater understanding in order to learn about our opponents in order to fight them effectively.

Now it’s easier today to understand the conservative movement more than it was 10 years ago since they are publicizing so heavily. But even watching FOXNews and reading conservative blogs do not necessarily give us a great deal of understanding into what the appeal of the Right is for the average Republican voter.

This same knowledge gap exists in scholarship. How many people study the history of religion today? Not too many. How many books have historians and other scholars written on the history of conservatism in the 1960s compared to liberalism and the counterculture during the same time? This despite the fact that of the 3 presidential elections in the 1960s, 2 were very tight and one won by a Republican (and the other maybe won if it wasn’t for Chicago chicanery). Because scholars are a pretty self-selecting group and because that group is overwhelming left of center, we naturally focus our research on movements we are sympathetic with. I know that I have done that in my own work.

But it is imperative that we start learning the history of the New Right and Lisa McGirr sets us on a solid course with that project in her book Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. Focusing on Orange County and based on a large number of oral interviews with local conservative activists, McGirr helps us to understand not only the history of the modern Right but the appeal of it today. She discusses the role of religion in the movement, the changing face of the conservative movement over time, why conservatism is so strongly established in places like Orange County, Cobb County, and Colorado Springs, and the ambivalence that the Right has with modernity (yes on materalism and consumption, no on an activist federal government and the social changes brought on by materialism and consumption). Generally, McGirr’s book is a building-block kind of history rather than a mind-blowing new interpretation. There’s not a lot in the book that was shocking to me about the history of the Right. However, that’s not to say that I didn’t learn a lot about the mindset of the people we are facing.

Now I’m not sure what to do with the knowledge that I gained from this book. If, as McGirr claims, a major issue for conservatives was the primacy of the family over government, where does that lead us? I don’t think many progressives would say that the government should not vigorously pursue child abuse, as some radical conservatives would claim. Nor do I think many of us would be willing to meet conservatives where they are by claiming that we too like the materialistic side of modernity but don’t like the social changes. Rather, I think that many of us would say the opposite. Nonetheless, I do feel like I could argue with conservatives more effectively based upon this knowledge and I would recommend this book strongly for any progressive who feels the need to better understand the historical origins of those in charge of the county today.