Wrapped in the Flag

A Personal History of America’s Radical Right

De: Claire Conner

Narrado por: Elizabeth Evans

Duración: 10 h

Resumen del Editor

Wrapped in the Flag chronicles the radical right-wing world of the 1960s, when conspiracy ruled and the John Birch Society made national headlines. The daughter of a John Birch Society leader, Claire Conner introduces us to the extreme ideas of a powerful political fringe group dispensing radical solutions to America's problems. Following in the footsteps of its hero, Senator Joseph McCarthy, the John Birch Society believed that an international Communist conspiracy was on the verge of taking over the government of the United States. Top politicians, including President Dwight Eisenhower, were labeled as Communist operatives. John F. Kennedy was deemed a Socialist traitor. Birchers fought civil rights, labor unions, environmental protections, Medicare, welfare programs, the United Nations, and even water fluoridation. Today, the society continues many of those same campaigns from its national headquarters in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Claire Conner's intimate account - based on records, documents and her firsthand knowledge - takes us deep inside one of the most radical right-wing movements in U.S. history. Moving seamlessly between memoir and history, humor and pain, past and present, Wrapped in the Flag serves up keen insight into the impact of extremism on one woman, her family and, if unchecked, on our country.

©2013 Claire A. Mork (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Raw and frustrating

Opening old wounds is never easy, especially when those wounds were caused by the people who were meant to protect you from them in the first place. This looks into the life of a woman raised by far right parents in the 1950s-1970s, who later confirmed that they loved their hateful beliefs more than loving their children. Things we see today (2022) are exactly the same, proving that when when evil reemerged in the 21st century, it was in fact wrapped in the flag and carried the cross!

Two words on why this is relevant, Koch brothers

An interesting view in to two of the early leaders in the John Birch Society. Claire was the daughter of a member of the JBS National Counsel. It's interesting to compare the beliefs of some members of the modern Tea Party and the JBS. It's also an interesting tale of the problem of ideology. A belief can be a blinder to what is before you, you simply start to bend reality to fit your ideology. It's hard to know whether to condemn her parents for their radical views or to commend them for their commitment to their ideals.

Why is the right so well organized?

What made the experience of listening to Wrapped in the Flag the most enjoyable?

The story is a memoir, but it felt like I was listening to fiction. It is the personal story of a person who grew up during the late 1950s and early 1960s. I had never heard of the John Birch Society, Robert Welch, or things like 'healthy poverty.' The author was a child of hardcore, right-wing activists who were devoted to destroying FDR social nets and shrinking government. Perhaps it can be said that Claire's parents were devoted to destroying social democracy (period). Like many Americans, I've found myself under informed, helpless, and puzzled by the question of "Why is the right so strong?" and "Where is this crap coming from?". Claire's book helped to start lifting the fog. The narration was very professional. The narrator made Claire's work come alive. Furthermore, I've enjoyed realizing that I'm not alone in the quest to come out of the dark and participate in beating back the right's hatred of government and the good that government has accomplished. Thank you Claire Conner Mork for the starting point! I enjoyed your book and I have enjoyed following you on your Wrapped in the Flag Facebook page. Best wishes!!

Hardcore. Upsetting.

This book will go straight into your ear raw dog. Ms. Conner is a woman of great loving courage to grow up with these fanatical fanatics and manage to be sane and have compassion for other human beings outside of her family and race is just astounding. Ms. Conner is astounding. I don't agree with her politics but I would trust her with my children. And it is disconcerting to note that the politics of the Birchers have not changed, and now many of their talking points are mainstream ideals on the right.

The best thing though about the book is that despite how much you may dislike her parents she still portrays them as human beings. I don't want to spoil the book but when her parents go through tough moments despite all their cruelties you still feel for them. They were just misguided humans, not monsters.

Where the Tea Party got their crazy ideas

Clare Conner's book recounts her childhood and early adult experiences of growing up in an extremely conservative, Catholic family who helped establish the John Birch Society. Her book was published only after the extreme far-right world view of the JBS -- with it's fear, anger, and hatred -- were resurrected by the "newly formed" Tea Party, following the 2008 financial meltdown and election of Obama. I was astounded to learn that VIRTUALLY ALL of the views and "solutions" now being proposed by the Republican leadership in the U.S., particularly the extreme love of America combined with the extreme hatred of government, were crafted by Robert Welch and the JBS back in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Captivating

I was captivated beginning to end. Great story telling. Loved hearing a first hand experience.

Filling in the blanks...

What made the experience of listening to Wrapped in the Flag the most enjoyable?

I can't say this book was 'enjoyable' for me so much as it was informative. The author is just a bit older than I, but we share childhoods in the same era. The events she relates are very familiar, even though I was just a kid blithely going about my kid-business while my parents dealt with the headlines and ideas. While her parents were highly politically active, mine were not. Yet within this narrative I hear shades of my own parents attitudes. Thankfully, though my folks indicated some social beliefs that I'd rather ignore, they managed to teach me many of the principles that led to my liberal world-view in spite of themselves! It's unnearving to think that if they were bent just a little more to the right; my early experiences might have been similar to hers. Enjoyable? Not so much. Enlightening? Very much.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The trajectory of this ultra-right wing mindset of which the author writes makes me want to weep daily. The same talking points, the very same, are trumpeted in all national media without the slightest shame. At least, back in the years when the author and I were growing up, such ideas were considered insane even by conservatives and certainly by the media. If you think this kind of rhetoric is new and an offshoot of current events, you need to read this book. These people haven't even changed the words but only inserted new names throughout the last 50 years of American politics! The goals of the John Birch Society and the people who think like them are nothing short of dismantling democracy, installing theocracy, and a chilling new version of totalitarianism. Normally, I would refrain from using such extreme rhetoric myself, but in this case, I doubt even the opposition would disagree with me.

Any additional comments?

Listen to this book. Pass it around. It will help.

Excellent if a bit depressing

This is the story of growing up in the household of two of the first members/leaders of the John Birch Society. While the daughter was able to move out of her views her parents remained devoted fanatics to the cause to the end. It was depressing to realize that this hateful, conspiracy-filled worldview never goes away but just varies in the amount of influence it has in the political system. And shortly after the election of Obama it may have returned to a new peak.
The narration was very good, similar to the author's voice which you can hear in speeches on YouTube.