Family Values and the Rise of the Christian Right

Reviews / Votes

"Seth Dowland's monograph makes a fresh and valuable contribution to a densely populated literature, not simply with impressive research and writing, but with innovative engagement with the historical development of the contemporary Christian Right. . . . Dowland shows . . . that gender was not simply one issue among many but was the central organizing category, fundamental analytical logic, and discursive self-understanding." (Journal of Southern Religion) "What Dowland gives us is a remarkably perceptive analysis of white conservative evangelicals' beliefs about the family, the state, and American society. Other books may chronicle the history of the Christian Right, but few other works succeed so well in taking readers inside the mind of conservative evangelicals to explain how Christian Right activists think." (Reading Religion) "Dowland's work elucidates the underbelly of the Christian right movement and clarifies the importance of many topics to this group." (Political Science Quarterly) "This tightly argued, well-executed study stands up admirably on a crowded bookshelf." (American Historical Review) "As Seth Dowland explains, evangelicals hearkened to a past in which gender lines were clear. . . . It's a story that Dowland tells carefully and fairly." (Christian Century) "'Family values' politics is omnipresent in the history and rhetoric (and study) of the Christian Right, yet what exactly does it mean, and how, why, and when did it gain such remarkable traction? Weaving a boldly and beautifully written story through the many stages of evangelical family life, grassroots activism, advocacy, and public policy, Seth Dowland tells us. His is the definitive study of a movement-a phenomenon-that has shaped modern American politics in its image." (Darren Dochuk, author of From Bible Belt to Sunbelt) "'Family values' has become ubiquitous in our culture and yet it has not received serious, thorough, and substantive analysis-until now. Seth Dowland has produced a smart, lively, and engaging book that makes important contributions to political, religious, and cultural history. This book should garner serious attention from a wide readership." (Matthew Avery Sutton, author of American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism)