Right-Wing Populism in America Too Close for Comfort

This important volume offers an in-depth look at the historical roots and current landscape of right-wing populism in the United States. Ill uminated is the potent combination of anti-elitist rhetoric, conspirac y theories, and ethnic scapegoating that has fueled many political mov ements from the colonial period to the present day. The book examines the Jacksonians, the Ku Klux Klan, and a host of Cold War nationalist cliques, and relates them to the evolution of contemporary electoral c ampaigns of Patrick Buchanan, the militancy of the Posse Comitatus and the Christian Identity movement, and an array of millennial sects. Co mbining vivid description and incisive analysis, Berlet and Lyons show how large numbers of disaffected Americans have embraced right-wing p opulism in a misguided attempt to challenge power relationships in U.S . society. Highlighted are the dangers these groups pose for the futur e of our political system and the hope of progressive social change.

Chip Berlet has written about right-wing movements for over 20 years, with bylines in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Progressive, and scores of other publications. He is senior analyst at Political Research Associates in Somerville, MA, and editor of Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash. He has contributed articles and chapters to several scholarly books and journals and his media appearances and citations as an expert include Newsweek, National Public Radio, and Nightline.

Matthew N. Lyons is a historian, activist, and writer whose work has focused on systems of oppression and social movements. He is research associate for the Hansberry-Nemiroff Archival, Educational, and Cultural Fund, and author of The Grassroots Network: Radical Nonviolence in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1972-1985.

[Update note as of 12/01:] Matthew Lyons lives in Philadelphia, is an archivist at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and received a Master of Library
Service from Rutgers University in 2001