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Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein
micareads123's review
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Is US political history my wheelhouse? Not even a little bit. But did I enjoy this book anyway, despite it being pretty far outside my comfort zone? Absolutely.
This book was the first instalment of a four-part book club on US political history. The book club is focused on the rise of conservatism and understanding how we got to where we are today in terms of political extremism.
The argument Perlstein presents in Before the Storm is that despite Democrat Lyndon Johnson’s landslide win over Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election, Barry Goldwater’s influential role in the uprising of conservatism, both in the race and as a senator before then, cannot be so easily dismissed.
A highlight for me was how the author tied certain events, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the release of Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, into the narrative, describing their influence in dividing the country between left and right.
I did find that with my level of knowledge on the topic, Perlstein’s style of floating in and out of different themes and providing perhaps more detail than necessary made the book a little hard to follow, at times a slog. That said, I think there is a lot to get out of this book for people with any level of knowledge on this era of US politics.
Overall, I learned a lot from this book, and I look forward to continuing the book club reading with Perlstein’s Nixonland.
alicia_ann_reads's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Disclaimer: I went into this book with a very mediocre understanding of basic US Politics (I'm Canadian)
I read this as part of a bookclub.
My bookclub peeps get 5 stars for helping me understand things
The book gets 3 stars.
It was incredibly informative, you could tell it was well researched by the fact that 30% of the book was actually notes, although nothing in the actual text had labelled endnotes.
Sometimes I felt like I was reading a suspense book where I already read all the spoilers.
The author does a good job of meandering to his point but starting it, going off on several related tangents (while name dropping at least 20 new people per chapter) to finally circle back to the original point. Only by this time I've often forgotten who we were talking about.
[I want to tell you about this, but before I can do that I need to tell you about this and this, but to understand that you really need to know about this, okay back to the first this, a conclusion and then finally the first point is made]
If I'd have had a little prior knowledge about who some of these people were, perhaps iad have followed along a little better.
The second half of the book which covers the convention, primary and the final campaigning was pretty interesting.
I read this as part of a bookclub.
My bookclub peeps get 5 stars for helping me understand things
The book gets 3 stars.
It was incredibly informative, you could tell it was well researched by the fact that 30% of the book was actually notes, although nothing in the actual text had labelled endnotes.
Sometimes I felt like I was reading a suspense book where I already read all the spoilers.
The author does a good job of meandering to his point but starting it, going off on several related tangents (while name dropping at least 20 new people per chapter) to finally circle back to the original point. Only by this time I've often forgotten who we were talking about.
[I want to tell you about this, but before I can do that I need to tell you about this and this, but to understand that you really need to know about this, okay back to the first this, a conclusion and then finally the first point is made]
If I'd have had a little prior knowledge about who some of these people were, perhaps iad have followed along a little better.
The second half of the book which covers the convention, primary and the final campaigning was pretty interesting.
obstinateheadstrongcurl's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.5
Rick Perlstein delivers well-researched chronicle of the 1964 Barry Goldwater presidential campaign and the beginnings of the conservative movement. The subject matter was incredibly interesting and really important for understanding current American politics.
While I ultimately enjoyed this book, the narrative felt a bit chaotic, which mostly reflects the shambles that was the Goldwater campaign but sometimes was just confusing. There were also tons of typos in the ebook which really hindered my reading experience.
I’m definitely interested in continuing to learn about the history of the conservative movement, but I don’t think Perlstein will become a go-to author for me.
wescovington's review against another edition
5.0
I read the first book of Perlstein's four volume study of the American conservative movement last. (I went 2, 3, 4, 1). I really enjoyed this one as I did all the others. Unlike the other three volumes, this really covers a much smaller period of time.
In the end, the big star of the 1964 Republican presidential campaign, ended up being Ronald Reagan.
In the end, the big star of the 1964 Republican presidential campaign, ended up being Ronald Reagan.
curiousstranger's review against another edition
5.0
A fascinating look at the politics of the 60's and how the lessons learned in failure by Barry Goldwater and his supporters shaped the political landscape of the rest of the 20th century.
jonb's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Challenging but informative read about an inflection point in American politics that continues to effect us to this day. I found the book to be a difficult read as some sentences were worded rather obtusely but I would still recommend. Will be reading the rest of the series soon!
noellita234's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fascinating view into the turbulent 60’s. It feels like not much has changed, or been learned. Goldwater is more like a side character to the times in which he lived. Didn’t feel like I learned nearly as much about him as his era.