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Review Quotes: "Every now and then, a book comes along that makes precisely the inquiry called for by the times. Furious Minds is one of those books. It is rich and relentlessly probing, yet at the same time altogether fair. Field has done several remarkable things: She has taken the ideas that lie behind Donald Trump seriously and held them up for moral and critical scrutiny. This is a genuinely important book."--Benjamin Wittes, editor in chief of Lawfare and coauthor of Unmaking the Presidency: Donald Trump's War on the World's Most Powerful Office "Laura Field's Furious Minds is a literary event of the highest order. With seriousness, care, and precision, Field mines the depths of the 'MAGA mind.' There is no Ivory Tower tall enough or corner of the internet dark enough to escape her critical eye. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the thinking that led to this era of American politics." --Nicholas Buccola, author of One Man's Freedom: Goldwater, King, and the Struggle over an American Ideal Review Quotes: " Furious Minds is the closest thing we have to a mole's-eye view of the New Right, and it is revelatory." ---Alexandre Lefebvre, Los Angeles Review of Books Review Quotes: "Remarkable. . . . Readers of Furious Minds will congratulate Field on a fluently written book, and thank her for immersing herself first-hand in a cesspit so they don't have to." ---Michael Burleigh, Literary Review Review Quotes: "A nuanced and sophisticated look at MAGA's intellectual and institutional infrastructure." ---David Austin Walsh, Washington Monthly Review Quotes: "In the ever-growing field of books aiming to explain the rise of the MAGA movement, Furious Minds, by a political theorist with longstanding experience in conservative academia, stands out for its emphasis on ideas. Field shows how the New Right, drawing on a loose network of academics and influencers, has coalesced around a vision of America that is socially reactionary, economically isolationist and deeply skeptical of pluralism as an inherent social good."-- "New York Times" Review Quotes: " Furious Minds is the most up-to-date introduction we have to the MAGA intellectual right reshaping America with astonishing speed today." ---Mark Lilla, New York Review of Books Review Quotes: "A fascinating taxonomy of the wild world of far-right thinking." ---Zack Beauchamp, Vox's The Gray Area Review Quotes: "A revelatory, at times horrifying deconstruction of the New Right; it shows how we arrived at this moment, and it discusses the intentions of those who hope to push it further. Understanding their intellectual underpinnings is crucial to organizing an effective response. . . . We recommend her book for the essential knowledge it contains--and for its important advice." ---Michelle Anne Schingler, Foreword Biographical Note: Laura K. Field is an associate with the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University and a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution. She has written about the New Right for The New Republic, Politico, The Bulwark, and other publications, and holds a PhD in government from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Washington, DC. Review Quotes: "A meticulous and unsettling revelation of a right-wing plan for a 'new old-fashioned world.'"-- "Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)" Review Quotes: " Furious Minds is an outstanding intellectual history of the present." ---Kenan Malik, Observer Review Quotes: "Winner of the PROSE Award in Government and Politics, Association of American Publishers" Review Quotes: "A perceptive history and analysis, bolstered by the author's proximity to the subject. . . . a valuable guide to understanding that ideology and countering it." ---Kenneth Silber, Splice Today Review Quotes: "[Laura K. Field's] background perfectly positions her to deliver this lively, devastating taxonomy and critique of MAGA's ideologues. She was originally trained in Straussian scholarship--a reading of classical political thought that criticizes the modern turn away from the sources of moral authority toward liberalism and, in Strauss's view, nihilism. His approach has had a deep influence on leading conservative American intellectuals of the past half century. . . . Nearly a decade in these academic circles makes Field a knowledgeable guide to a subject she takes seriously. She's also a Canadian woman, a double identity that puts her at a skeptical distance from the more and more extreme world of the American right." ---George Packer, The Atlantic Review Quotes: "A Financial Times Best Book of the Year" Review Quotes: " A great new book about the intellectual roots of MAGA. " ---Greg Sargent, New RepublicReview Quotes: "Fascinating and important. . . . Field is an excellent and intellectually honest guide. . . . Furious Minds includes some surprisingly witty and playful moments, which stand in stark contrast to the turgid moralizing and hostility she examines in the book." ---Jennifer Szalai, New York Times Review Quotes: "Fascinating. . . . This is a very troubling moment for American democracy, such as it is, and the path forward is unclear to many of us. Furious Minds may help by showing readers, in stark detail, the obscure path that led us to where we are. It's a work of intellectual history, not a polemic, but it offers an important warning to those with ears to hear: the anger and resentment driving our current agonies can end in only one place." ---Matt McManus, Commonweal Review Quotes: " Furious Minds covers an enormous range of figures and ideas. This means that despite being more than four hundred pages long, it moves at an appropriately furious pace." ---Matt McManus, Commonweal Review Quotes: "Field has especially rich insights. . . . [A]n indispensable starting point for anyone who hopes to go beyond a superficial understanding of the anti-liberal American right." ---Stephanie Slade, Reason Review Quotes: "Longlisted for the Edwards Book Award, Rodel Institute" Review Quotes: "Field's perspective is clear throughout this book, as is the audience she is addressing. . . . [W]ell researched."-- "Choice" Review Quotes: "Winner of the Best Book Award, American Political Thought Section of the American Political Science Association" Publisher Marketing: "[An] excellent new book."--Michelle Goldberg, New York Times The story of the radical conservative intellectual movement shaping Donald Trump's agenda--and how it threatens American freedoms, values, and democracy Donald Trump is not a big thinker, but his 2016 presidential victory presented a grand opportunity for people who are, and it set off a radicalization and reconfiguration of the American conservative intellectual world. In Furious Minds, Laura Field, who spent close to a decade in conservative academic circles, chronicles the rise of the New Right--the network of academics, public intellectuals, and influencers who provide ideological fuel to Trumpism. This movement includes figures such as Patrick Deneen, Christopher Rufo, Peter Thiel, and JD Vance. Their agenda is built to last, and it has dire long-term implications for liberal democracy. The New Right has precedents in American history, but it is distinct for its youthfulness, misogyny, and extraordinary successes--most notably the elevation of Vance to the vice presidency. The movement--which draws together associates of the right-wing Claremont Institute, National Conservatives, Postliberals, and the Hard Right--advocates nationalist economics, tight borders, isolationism, and reactionary social values. It helped to strategize January 6th and created Project 2025. But above all, the New Right is engaged in a vast culture war against modern liberal pluralism. It is determined to harness state power and use it in new, illiberal ways, from college campuses to the international scene--all driven by the fantasy of restoring a pure America. Incisive and urgent, Furious Minds tells the story of the thinkers of the New Right--and their powerful assault on American freedoms, values, and ideals.Review Citations:
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