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Books : The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American PowerIn association with Amazon.comby: Jeff Sharlet  List Price: $25.95 Amazon.com's Price: $18.43 You Save: $7.52 (29%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 277.3082 EAN: 9780060559793 ISBN: 0060559799 Label: Harper Manufacturer: Harper Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 464 Publication Date: June 01, 2008 Publisher: Harper Release Date: May 20, 2008 Studio: Harper Sales Rank: 43237 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description:
They are the Family—fundamentalism's avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the new chosen—congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential cells, to pray and plan for a "leadership led by God," to be won not by force but through "quiet diplomacy." Their base is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have reported from inside its walls. The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power—not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites. Sharlet follows the story back to Abraham Vereide, an immigrant preacher who in 1935 organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the far right with his own polite but authoritarian faith. From that core, Vereide built an international network of fundamentalists who spoke the language of establishment power, a "family" that thrives to this day. In public, they host Prayer Breakfasts; in private, they preach a gospel of "biblical capitalism," military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao as leadership models, the Family's current leader, Doug Coe, declares, "We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't." Sharlet's discoveries dramatically challenge conventional wisdom about American fundamentalism, revealing its crucial role in the unraveling of the New Deal, the waging of the cold war, and the no-holds-barred economics of globalization. The question Sharlet believes we must ask is not "What do fundamentalists want?" but "What have they already done?" Part history, part investigative journalism, The Family is a compelling account of how fundamentalism came to be interwoven with American power, a story that stretches from the religious revivals that have shaken this nation from its beginning to fundamentalism's new frontiers. No other book about the right has exposed the Family or revealed its far-reaching impact on democracy, and no future reckoning of American fundamentalism will be able to ignore it. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Alarming insightsThis alarming book provides startling insights into the way that right-wing "Christians" have infiltrated US politics and other power structures. It goes some way to explaining some of the strange things the US does, like electing George W, going to war in Iraq, supporting all sorts of corrupt and/or wacko regimes around the world, resisting tighter gun laws, etc. It's a must read for anyone who is trying to come to terms with what Christianity is all about -- and not about. Also to ... Read More Rating:  - If Christian Conservatives are really in control, then why....If Christian Conservatives are really in control, then why are there so many attacks on Christians and the ommissions of Christianity from all areas of our culture. Things don't add up...I'm not questioning the main premise of the book, however...this dog don't seem to hunt... Rating: - if the author could only step back from his own political beliefsThere are numerous instances where it sounds like the author isn't objecting to the unaccountable power of these fundamentalists as much as he objects to them favoring lower taxes vs. higher ones, and if the fundamentalists in question were Good Liberals using the same undemocratic (small 'd'), controlling, manipulative methods toward higher taxes and labor union power, he'd be OK with it. Rating:  - if you hate Christiansif you hate Christians, you'll love this book....me...i threw my copy in the garbage, which seemed appropriate to me. Rating: - That nasty, nagging feeling...... that something's lurking, just beyond your grasp, is there, alive and affecting your life in ways you could only in your darkest fears imagine. This is theocracy, the true enemy of American democracy. This is not the Bible-thumping shennanigans of the mostly ignorant mass of true believers. This threat is more insidious and powerful and it just might bring this nation to ultimate ruin. Read the book. Steel yourself. Do something to help stop it. Yeah... ... Read More Browse for similar items by category:
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