“A distinctive contribution on the influence of Christians on Union politics during the Civil War era.” —Ohio History Religion and the Radical Republican Movement, 1860–1870 is a study of the interplay of religion and politics during the Civil War era. More specifically, it examines the extent to which religion set the moral tone of the North during the period of 1860 through 1870. Howard focuses on the growing influence of the evangelical and liberal churches during the period. This influence was largely exerted through the agency of the radical Republicans, a faction that took an extreme position on war measures and on reconstruction after the war. This book examines the degree to which radicalism was inspired by moral motivation and the action that followed the moral commitment. “The author’s prodigious research and stacks of quotations convincingly display the northern church’s commitment to black suffrage and to the era’s important congressional legislation bearing on black rights and other central Reconstruction issues.” —Choice

Political consultant and commentator Patrick Hynes dispels common stereotypes and misapprehensions about the most powerful political constituency in the country while undertaking the most exhaustive effort yet to define what the Religious Right is, what its members believe, and why they are right.

An explosive examination of the coalition of forces that threatens the nation, from the bestselling author of American Dynasty In his two most recent bestselling books, American Dynasty and Wealth and Democracy, Kevin Phillips established himself as a powerful critic of the political and economic forces that rule—and imperil—the United States, tracing the ever more alarming path of the emerging Republican majority’s rise to power. Now Phillips takes an uncompromising view of the current age of global overreach, fundamentalist religion, diminishing resources, and ballooning debt under the GOP majority. With an eye to the past and a searing vision of the future, Phillips confirms what too many Americans are still unwilling to admit about the depth of our misgovernment.

Kentucky occupied an unusual position with regard to slavery during the Civil War as well as after. Since the state never seceded, the emancipation proclamation did not free the majority of Kentucky's slaves; in fact, Kentucky and Delaware were the only two states where legal slavery still existed when the thirteenth amendment was adopted by Congress. Despite its unique position, no historian before has attempted to tell the experience of blacks in the Commonwealth during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Victor B. Howard's Black Liberation in Kentucky fills this void in the history of slavery and emancipation. In doing so, however, he does not just chronicle the experiences of black Kentucky, because as he notes in his introduction, "such a work would distort the past as much as a book concerned solely with white people." Beginning with an overview of the situation before the war, Howard examines reactions to the emancipation proclamation and how the writ was executed in Kentucky. He also explores the role the army played, both during the war as freed black enlisted and after the war as former slaves transitioned to freedom. The situation for former slaves in Kentucky was just as precarious as in other southern states, and Howard documents the challenges they faced from keeping families together to finding work. He also documents the early fights for civil rights in the state, detailing battles over the right to testify in court, black suffrage, and access to education. As Black Liberation in Kentucky shows, Kentucky's slaves fought for their freedom and rights from the beginning, refusing to continue in bondage and proving themselves accomplished actors destined to play a critical role in Civil War and Reconstruction.

This volume demonstrates that the Christian Right has a surprising past. Historical analysis reveals that the countercultural movements and evangelicalism share a common heritage. Shires warns that political operatives in both parties need to heed this fact if they hope to either, in the case of the Republican Party, retain their evangelical constituency, or, in the case of the Democratic Party, recruit new evangelical voters.

The radical right : an introduction / Jens Rydgren -- Ideology and discourse -- The radical right and nationalism / Tamir Bar-On -- The radical right and islamophobia / Aristotle Kallis -- The radical right and anti-semitism / Ruth Wodak -- The radical right and populism / Hans-Georg Betz -- The radical right and fascism / Nigel Copsey -- The radical right and euroscepticism / Sofia Vasilopoulou -- Issues -- Explaining electoral support for the radical right / Kai Arzheimer -- Party systems and radical right-wing parties / Herbert Kitschelt -- The radical right and gender / Hilde Coffé -- Globalization, cleavages, and the radical right / Simon Bornschier -- Party organization and the radical right / David Art -- Charisma and the radical right / Roger Eatwell -- Media and the radical right / Antonis A. Ellinas -- The non-party sector of the radical right / John Veugelers and Gabriel Menard -- The political impact of the radical right / Michelle Hale Williams -- The radical right as social movement organizations / Manuela Caiani and Donatella Della Porta -- Youth and the radical right / Cynthia Miller Idriss -- Religion and the radical right / Michael Minkenberg -- Cross-national links and international cooperation / Manuela Caiani -- Political violence and the radical right / Leonard Weinberg and Eliot Assoudeh -- Case studies -- The radical right in France / Nonna Mayer -- The radical right in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland / Uwe Backes -- The radical right in Belgium and the Netherlands / Joop J.M. van Holsteyn -- The radical right in Southern Europe / Carlo Ruzza -- The radical right in the UK / Matthew J. Goodwin and James Dennison -- The radical right in the Nordic countries / Anders Widfeldt -- The radical right in Eastern Europe / Lenka Butíková -- The radical right in post-soviet Russia / Richard Arnold and Andreas Umland -- The radical right in post-soviet Ukraine / Melanie Mierzejewski-Voznyak -- The radical right in the United States of America / Christopher Sebastian Parker -- The radical right in Australia / Andy Fleming and Aurelien Mondon -- The radical right in Israel / Arie Perliger and Ami Pedhazur -- The radical right in Japan / Naoto Higuchi