Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking Of the American Consensus [Paperback]

However, this book is not without its flaws. Though Perlstein's unorthodox prose rather grew on me, some readers might not be so kind. Also, though it is obvious that Perstein is a man with a sense of humor, he was at times a little too cute for my tastes. Along these same lines, Perlstein wore his liberal political bent a little too much on his sleeves. Finally, I am not sure the book lived up to its billing as telling the story of how American political history was forever changed in 1964. In other words, I think the book is better described as "interesting", as opposed to "important". However, this is a quality book, and I tip my hat to Perstein on his first effort.

This is primarily a story about campaign politics, and Perlstein is at his best when describing the behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing that made Barry Goldwater the Republican nominee. However, readers should know that Perlstein focuses on political action and organization rather than on the animating ideas behind the movement. In general, this doesn't affect the book, but a full appreciation of what people were doing and why requires treatment of the core ideas. For example, Perlstein devotes much space--and many colorful anecdotes--to the activities of the John Birch Society, the Young Americans for Freedom, and the libertarian Republicans in places like Orange County, California, but we don't really get to see why they were cooperative or antagonistic with each other; and the significance of William F. Buckley's uniting project is lost. (For a treatment of the ideas, I'd recommend George Nash's THE CONSERVATIVE INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT IN AMERICA.)

I was also disappointed by the absence of any real or substantive analysis. Besides some general introductory remarks, there is nothing that passes for analysis. There isn't even a conclusion; the book disappointingly and abruptly ends in midstream immediately after LBJ's landslide. Thus, the title and subtitle are misleading. What is the "storm"--the consequent rise of conservatism and the triumph of Reagan in 1980? We're never told. And how did Barry Goldwater unmake the American consensus? We get some idea of how he disrupted the reigning Republican consensus of the eastern establishment (but we get no sense of the consequences and how this contributed to the "Reagan Revolution"), and from our twenty-first-century vantage point, we know that many of his ideas are accepted as political orthodoxy today (on the right and left). But just how this happened is left to the reader and his apparently assumed store of political knowledge.

BEFORE THE STORM is more journalism than history, and that's fine. As journalism, the book is interesting, insightful, thought-provoking, thorough, and objective. Perlstein takes us into the trenches and shows us what happened in all possible (but not superfluous) detail. He fleshes out personalities and captures emotions. In short, he tells a riveting story without bias. As journalism, as narrative, the book succeeds.

It is the finest book I have read in the past two years. As others have said, readers from all points on the political spectrum will find "Before the Storm" interesting. Why not? A great book transcends narrow labels. I would read anything Rick Perlstein writes, and I anxiously await his next work, whatever it may be.