Wrapped in the Flag

A Personal History of America’s Radical Right

De: Claire Conner

Narrado por: Elizabeth Evans

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!

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.

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.