Right Out Of California
The 1930s and the Big Business Roots of Modern Conservatism
Published on 17. August 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-62097-306-6 (ISBN)
Description
In a reassessment of modern conservatism, noted historian Kathryn S. Olmsted reexamines the explosive labour disputes in the agricultural fields of Depression-era California, the cauldron that inspired a generation of artists and writers and triggered the intervention of FDR's New Deal. Right Out of California tells how this brief moment of upheaval terrified business leaders into rethinking their relationship to American politics - a narrative that pits a ruthless generation of growers against a passionate cast of reformers, writers, and revolutionaries.
Reviews / Votes
"Olmsted's vivid, accomplished narrative really belongs to the historiography of the left...as her strong research shows, race and gender prejudice informed or deformed, almost the whole of American social and cultural life in the 1930s and was as common on the left as on the right."-
The New York Times Book Review
"Stirring."
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Counterpunch
"Gripping."
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Truthdig
"An accessible work that aids in contextualizing the rise of future conservative leaders."
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Publishers Weekly
"A well-focused academic study. Olmsted...finds in Depression-era California the crucible for strong-arm policies against farm workers that bolstered the conservative movement."
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Kirkus
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 146 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
451 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62097-306-6 (9781620973066)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Kathryn S. Olmsted is chair of the history department at the University of California, Davis. A historian of anticommunism, she is the author of several books, including Challenging the Secret Government: The Post-Watergate Investigations of the CIA and FBI, Red Spy Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth Bentley, and Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11.