Partisans

Partisans offers an exciting new history of the 1990s, uncovering how the far right took over the Republican Party in the years following the Reagan era. This is a vivid and eye-opening reinterpretation of a decade that has been long dismissed as America's holiday from history. --Leah Wright Rigueur, author of The Loneliness of the Black Republican Nicole Hemmer is both shrewd and wise in her understanding of the history of American conservatism and the long-term influence of right-wing media. Partisans brilliantly explains why Reaganism gave way to Trumpism and calls much-needed attention to the importance of Pat Buchanan's nationalist insurgency in the 1990s as a pivot point. An essential and engaging book that explains how we got here. --E. J. Dionne Jr., author of Why the Right Went Wrong Partisans is full of sharp insights, especially on political radio and TV--for instance on why Bill Maher was least as influential in how we got where we are as Newt Gingrich. This is the best account out there of what happened to the Republican Party in the 1990s. --Rick Perlstein, author of Reaganland Nicole Hemmer's Partisans shines fresh, provocative light on America's political history, showing that Ronald Reagan's anointed successors were not public servants so much as performance artists growing rich and powerful by selling division and resentment. Partisans provides a whole new meaning to the Reagan Revolution by focusing on the charlatans of the 1990's it spawned. --Jane Mayer, Chief Washington Correspondent, The New Yorker