Gang of Five : Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Ascendacy

by Easton, Nina J.

• ISBN13: 9780684838991
• ISBN10: 0684838990
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-08-01
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

In "Gang of Five, " bestselling author Nina J. Easton reveals the hidden history of American politics in the last thirty years. It's the story of the "other, " less well-known segment of the baby-boom generation: young conservative activists who arrived on campus in the 1970s in rebellion against everything "sixties" and went on to overturn the political dynamics of our country. "Gang of Five" focuses on the lives and careers of five major figures. BILL KRISTOL, the Harvard-educated intellectual and "Weekly Standard" publisher RALPH REED, the hardball politico and strategist for the Christian right CLINT BOLICK, the constitutional lawyer and "bleeding heart" libertarian GROVER NORQUIST, the anti-tax activist and leader of the so-called vast right-wing conspiracy DAVID McINTOSH, the fresh-faced congressman and architect of the Right's war on regulation "Gang of Five" is a major contribution to contemporary history that explains how we arrived at the politics of today.

Author Biography

Nina J. Easton is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and BusinessWeek. The coauthor (with Ronald Brownstein) of the bestseller Reagan's Ruling Class, she has received numerous awards for her reporting work. She lives outside Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Introduction	15	(8)
PART ONE: The 1970s: Campus Rebels with a Cause
Contrarian	23	(25)
Wonk	48	(22)
Hard-core	70	(19)
White Male	89	(22)
Pol	111	(24)
PART TWO: The Reagan-Bush Years: Revolution From Within
Street Theater	135	(21)
Vanguard I: In the African Bush	156	(21)
Vanguard II: In the Belly of the Beast	177	(23)
Co-belligerents	200	(22)
Umpire Par Excellence	222	(25)
PART THREE: The Clinton Years: ``War Without Blood''
An Enemy's Fatal Conceits	247	(19)
Revolution Time	266	(24)
War Without Blood	290	(23)
On Race and Intent	313	(22)
The Search: 1996	335	(24)
Culture Clash	359	(24)
Legacies	383	(24)
Notes	407	(27)
Bibliographic Note	434	(4)
Acknowledgments	438	(3)
Index	441