Right Star Rising: A New Politics, 1974-1980

An authoritative history of the right turn in American national politics during the Ford-Carter years.

On the face of it, the Ford-Carter years seem completely forgettable. They were years of weak presidential leadership and national drift. Yet, as Laura Kalman shows in this absorbing narrative history, the contours of our contemporary politics took shape during these years. This was the incubation period for a powerful movement on the right that was to triumph with Ronald Reagan's election ...