ARTICLE
Monday, February 5 at 7pm on Zoom Free and Open to the public | Advance RSVP required at www.falmouthjewish.org or email fjcoffice@comcast.net Book sales by Eight Cousins Bookshop On Monday, February 5 at 7pm, Falmouth Jewish Congregation will host a Jewish Book Council author talk by historian Matthew Dallek about his study Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right. This talk is virtual (on Zoom), free and open to the public, but requires advance registration at www.falmouthjewish.org or by email to fjcoffice@comcast.net. Local independent bookshop Eight Cousins is handling book sales and signing. All are welcome. Historian Matthew Dallek’s Birchers is a deeply researched account of how a notorious far right organization set the Republican Party on a long march toward extremism. With today’s political polarization, the rise of hate crimes, antisemitism and Islamophobia on the rise, the topic is timely and relevant. Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money, hailed Birchers as “revelatory and readable…essential history for anyone trying to understand American politics.” At the height of the John Birch Society’s activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, “Birchers” believed that a vast communist conspiracy existed in America and posed an existential threat to Christianity, capitalism, and freedom. But as historian Dallek reveals, the Birch Society’s extremism remade American conservatism. Most Birchers were white professionals who were radicalized as growing calls for racial and gender equality appeared to upend American life. Conservative leaders recognized that these affluent voters were needed to win elections, and for decades the GOP courted Birchers and their extremist successors. The far right steadily gained power, finally toppling the Republican establishment and electing Donald Trump. What the critics are saying: “The John Birch Society was once considered so far out on the paranoid fringe it was synonymous with kookiness. In his fascinating and scrupulously researched narrative, Dallek shows how the Republican Party’s extremists took over the GOP. Matthew Dallek is an historian and professor of political management at George Washington University and author of The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan’s First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics and Defenseless Under the Night: The Roosevelt Years and the Origins of Homeland Securityt. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Politico and other publications. You will find a complete roster of Jewish Book Council author talks at the FJC website, including the next one, an in-person talk on Thursday, February 29 at 11am by Emily Franklin on her novel about Isabella Stewart Gardner, The Lioness of Boston.