Birchers

How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right

By: Matthew Dallek

Narrated by: Donald Corren

How a notorious far right organization set the Republican Party on a long march toward extremism

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 Matthew 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.

Birchers is a deeply researched and indispensable new account of the rise of extremism in the United States.

©2023 Matthew Dallek (P)2023 Basic Books

Critic reviews

“Before MAGA, there was the John Birch Society, an organization known to many but understood by very few. Matthew Dallek has penetrated the fog. His superbly researched and well-written history shows us exactly who the Birchers were and why they mattered—and still matter today.”—Sam Tanenhaus, author of The Death of Conservatism

“In Cold War America, no organization on the right was larger or more influential than the John Birch Society. Matthew Dallek’s perceptive, engrossing narrative reveals as never before how a group funded by wealthy businessmen and organized at the grassroots level changed the Republican Party—and the nation. Birchers is one of the best and most essential histories of modern conservatism that has ever been written.”—Michael Kazin, author of What It Took to Win

“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, Matthew Dallek shows how the Republican Party's extremists took over the GOP. Revelatory and readable, Birchers is essential history for anyone trying to understand American politics.”—Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money

Everything old is new again.

In this fairly exhaustive but accessible history, common themes that once coalesced around pro-slavery and anti-immigrant forces are shown as a through line leading to the founding of the JBS, and how that influence continues today.

Many recognizable ideas, even word for word arguments and slogans, that dot our current political media landscape are unpacked here from their genesis. Fascinating, if morbid.

Easy to understand, interesting in both tone and content, and well read, this book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

The Missing Link

I was in elementary school circa 1969, when a classmate, the son of a corporate CEO mocked me for not knowing about the John Birch Society. Obviously he learned about it at home, as we were merely 7 years old. That stuck in my mind, so I had to read this book. Well, it turns out there’s a big throughline from the JBS to all the other right wing extremists up to the Tea Party and Q-Anon. The parallels are too obvious to ignore. Toss in the rise of specialized right wing media and social media’s facilitation of connecting like-minded individuals and their obsession with conspiracies and rumors and you get our current political climate. And there’s no William F. Buckley to gatekeep or rein in or tamp it down. Read this book for a thorough history of how we got here. Oh my heavens. It is timely.

Fascinating

Knowing this history informs on the political environment today. Everything old is new again. Highly recommend

The Progenitor of the MAGA Movement

I was somewhat familiar with the John Birch Society from the 60s but never thought of it as a subversive organization infiltrating the GOP with a goal of undermining democracy. I thought it died out in the 70s. This book describes in detail how it metastasized and spread throughout the Republican Party and evolved into the current-day MAGA insurrectionist movement. Truly fascinating.
The delivery is like listening for hours to a lecturer discussing an important but dry episode of history which at times made me want to skip a few chapters or even put the book down, but I’m glad I didn’t. I just hope the arc of Bircherism ends in 2024.

Excellent popular history

An excellent well-researched popular history of the John Birch Society & the far right "populism" of the 1950s and 1960s. Many resemblances between this stain on American history and earlier ones (e.g., the "No Nothing" Party of the 1850s, the KKK of the 1920s) and later/contemporary ones (QAnon). This strain of rightwing, paranoid has existed as an element of American politics throughout our history, usually repudiated by the mainstream parties (whether honestly or not). Today's paranoid/racist/anti-immigration & anti-semitic fringe has seemingly found a home in the contemporary Republican Party. An understanding of the boom & bust of the John Birch Society can help the reader understanding what is going on now.

My father was a Bircher.

Well written and very well narrated, this history is poignant and extremely relevant to the challenges we currently face as a nation.

Good tie in to current politics

If you always wondered about what the John Birch Society was and who was John Birch this is the starting point. Prof Dallek demonstrates how it all ties into today..

Fallen connects the dots from the Birchers’ beginnings to the frightening radical right of today.

I liked the straightforward sequencing of changes in conservative Republican politics as it accommodated and absorbed JBS racism, nativism, and conspiracy theories.

Well crafted but needed more research

Decent thesis but the author stretched the material to cover the modern era instead of focusing on the main era of the society’s influence

Really good insight

I enjoyed this and it was well researched. I’ve studied the birch society quite a bit and this all adds up. I admit the narrator was a little hard to stick with at times, made me want to fall asleep.