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"There is a hidden history in American politics, the other side of the baby-boom generation: political rebels of the Right who emerged on campus in the 1970s and went to overturn the established liberal order," writes Nina J. Easton in Gang of Five. "To understand them is to understand what politics has become and what it will be." Her book is probably best described as a quintuple biography of five movement conservatives in the midst of their political careers: Clint Bolick, a civil rights lawyer; William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard magazine; David McIntosh, a GOP congressman running for governor of Indiana in the fall of 2000; Grover Norquist, an antitax activist and one of Washington, D.C.'s most prominent right-wingers; and Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition maestro. "To understand these five men is to understand the real conservative movement," writes Easton.
That may be a slight overstatement, but only a slight one--this excellent book is one of the best narrative accounts of the modern conservative movement as it has developed since the 1970s. It's certainly the most readable. Easton's character-driven style brings each of her subjects alive; she treats them as real people with hopes and ambitions, not just mouthpieces for particular policies. Readers will learn of how Kristol grew up in the first family of neoconservatism, the bizarre way Norquist's father found his wife, and the charges of plagiarism leveled against Reed when he was an undergraduate. But Gang of Five isn't just gossip; it gracefully conveys the ideas that energize the conservative movement. Easton's discussion of Leo Strauss, delivered in a section on Kristol's days as a young man at Harvard, makes a difficult subject remarkably comprehensible. Best of all, this is no vast-right-wing-conspiracy tome. Easton reveals the important differences among these figures on everything from attitudes toward religion to personal style, and she reports on their sometimes vicious infighting (especially between Kristol and Norquist).
This is very much a book of the moment--each of these five men has long years ahead of him, and Easton could probably spend the rest of her life updating new editions of Gang of Five with fresh information. But there's also a sense of completeness here. She's done a remarkable job with an important subject, and made a compelling and original contribution to our understanding of contemporary politics. --John J. Miller
From Publishers Weekly
Already a capable chronicler of conservatism, Easton (co-author with Ronald Brownstein of Reagan's Ruling Class) returns to the history of the Right with a cautionary political tale in the form of intersecting biographies of five "third generation" conservative leaders. Her subjectsAWeekly Standard publisher Bill Kristol, Christian Coalition founder Ralph Reed, antitax lobbyist Grover Norquist, Congressman David McIntosh and constitutional lawyer Clint BolickAall came of political age on the college campuses of the early to mid-1970s, when the Left was strong and the Right irrelevant. But the combative nature of this "gang," Easton argues, soon changed the landscape of American politics. Appropriating both the irreverence and confidence of their leftist antagonists, these five individuals made conservative politics not only interesting but also almost hip. Their view of politics as a Manichean duel in which there could be no compromise soon came to define conservative politics. Easton traces the public careers of her subjects from the Right's halcyon days in the Reagan era to the present; she also notes how many AmericansAincluding Clinton, who, in 1996, said "The era of big government is over"Acame to embrace many of their anti-statist, free-market ideas. But the public didn't embrace the gang itself, Easton contends, because its members were too arrogant, too vitriolic in their rhetoric; they had passion but seemed to lack compassion. Easton wonders, in the end, if her subjects truly want to lead or merely fight. Neither an impassioned defense nor a rabid attack, this book delivers a thoughtful account of a crucial aspect of recent American politics. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The focus of this book is five baby-boomer conservative RepublicansDBill Kristol, Ralph Reed, Clint Bolick, Grover Norquist, and David McIntoshDwho have been outspoken activists since the Seventies.Easton, a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine and Business Week as well as coauthor of Reagan's Ruling Class, provides exhaustive profiles of her subjects. Since the title evokes Chinese radicals convicted for the repressive policies of the Cultural Revolution, the reader might suspect that the profiles are not especially flattering. Nevertheless, the author manages to capture the intriguing conflicts and complexities of her subjects' ideologies and provides balanced assessments of their leadership in and out of government. The profiles are based on extensive interviews with the subjects and members of their families, as well as on national and local press reports. Well documented and easy to read, the book has a select bibliography for additional sources on its subjects and the issues and events they influenced. Highly recommended for political science collections in academic and large public libraries.DJill Ortner, SUNY at Buffalo Libs. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
New York Times Book Review, Sept. 17, 2000
"terrific reportage....Easton retains a certain empathy for her characters...She appreciates that ideologues are motivated by ideology."
Washington Post Book World, Aug. 13, 2000
"Easton tells this story more inventively, exhaustively and entertainingly than anyone else I have read....will leave no one dissatisfied."--Rick Perlstein
From Kirkus Reviews
Thoughtful and balanced portraits of five lively and influential conservatives, emphasizing their intellectual roots and the parts they have played in the increasing sway of conservative policies and politics in the US since before the Reagan presidency.The gang of five are journalist and pundit Bill Kristol (editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard), the Christian Coalition's Ralph Reed (now a political consultant), former Indiana congressman David McIntosh (now running for governor of Indiana), lawyer Clint Bolick (whose clients are the urban poor), and anti-tax activist Grover Norquist (who keeps trying to herd all the conservative factions into the same corral). Easton (Reagan's Ruling Class, not reviewed) chose these five because they represent a range of thought across the conservative spectrum. All baby boomers, they also have in common brains, education (two Ph.D.'s among them), and a dedication to overthrowing what they see as entrenched liberals in government and the media. Idealistic and dedicated, fueled by revolutionary energy that matched their youthful counterparts on the left during the 1970s, they "brought to the Right an unprecedented level of political and media sophistication." Easton, eschewing amateur psychological analysis, examines each of their backgrounds with the emphasis on their college experiences (ranging from the cool and elitist Kristol at Harvard to the then-raucous, hard-drinking and arrogant Reed at the University of Georgia). She tracks the five to Washington in the wake of the Reagan victories and recounts the battles over Supreme Court nominees Robert Bork (a loser) and Clarence Thomas (a winner, in spite of Anita Hill), the blowback from the Oklahoma City bombing, and the effort to impeach Bill Clinton. That ultimately failed because, Easton suggests, Clinton's opponents misjudged Americans' support for personal virtue. Whatever missteps these five made-and they were many-they and others like them are poised to continue the "war without blood" to establish their conservative principles as the measure of power in American politics. For political junkies, politicians, and policy makers on the right or left who will discover that there is more substance to the conservative movement than Charlton Heston and abortion-clinic bombers. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Wall Sstreet Journal, Aug. 17, 2000
"Easton is the Diane Fossey of conservatism....the best account...of the conservative activists who drove the ideological battles of the 1990s."
Washington Monthly, Sept. 2000
"a winner....Easton unites perceptive analysis with lively prose style....will be devoured by political junkies."
Review
Mark Shields syndicated columnist; political commentator, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Gang of Five is an intriguing chronicle of the human element behind the Right's successful, if hostile, takeover of much of American politics in the last twenty-five years. Scrupulously researched, stylishly written, Gang of Five grasps what most infuriates liberals about the ascendant Right -- that it has beaten the Left at its own game. Nina Easton reveals a Right that has made many of the same mistakes that led to the demise of the liberal establishment: scorning compromise, overreaching, pursuing power as a blood sport.
Book Description
In Gang of Five, bestselling author Nina J. Easton adds an important element to the history of American politics in the last thirty years. This is the story of the other, less well known segment of the baby-boom generation. These are young conservative activists who arrived on campus in the 1970s in rebellion against everything "sixties" and went on to overturn the political dynamics of the country in the 1980s and 1990s. They've been waging what Newt Gingrich called a "war without blood" for three decades. Gang of Five portrays the intertwining careers of five major figures: BILL KRISTOL, the Harvard-educated elitist and publisher of the Weekly Standard, is the liberal establishment's worst nightmare -- a witty, erudite Rightist who was a leading force behind the demise of the Clinton health care plan, the historic reform of welfare, and the decision of House Republicans to impeach the president. RALPH REED, the hardball politico who helped turn an organization called the College Republicans into a kind of communist cell of the Right, in the 1990s tried to give the Religious Right a softer face as leader of the Christian Coalition but was thwarted by his thirst for power and the narrow fundamentalism of his activist followers. CLINT BOLICK, a leading force in the spread of school choice programs and the anti-affirmative action strategist who sank Lani Guinier's appointment, is the idealist who seeks to convince civil rights leaders that his legal work on behalf of disadvantaged minorities is sincere and that liberal programs hurt the people they are meant to help. GROVER NORQUIST, the "market Leninist" who divides the world into "good" and "evil," is at the hub of Hillary Clinton's "vast right-wing conspiracy" and is the architect of a no-new-taxes pledge signed by all major Republican candidates in the 1990s. DAVID MCINTOSH, the policy wonk who took the movement's war on Washington to Congress as leader of the House Republican freshmen during the Gingrich Revolution, pushed his party toward confrontation with the White House and is now running for governor in Indiana. In contrast to earlier generations of conservatives, these leaders and their allies tasted success, first with Ronald Reagan's twin victories in the 1980s and then, in the 1990s, with the Republican capture of Congress. They play to win and have had a hand in every major insurrection from the Right over the past two decades -- from abortion politics to government shutdowns to political muckracking. No politician can ignore their agenda or escape the new hardball rules they've written for national politics.
Download Description
The era of big government is over, says the Democratic President. So is the era of easy welfare payments and entitlements. More Americans believe that affirmative action is unfair, that "government" equates with "inept" that "regulation" is oppressive, and that "feminist" is a derogatory word. If liberalism owes much to the ideas that flashed onto campuses in the 1960s, today's conservatism is the rebellion that unfolded on campuses in the 1970s, the hidden story of the baby boom generation.Its leaders include Bill Kristol, the Harvard-educated elitist who is the premier face of the insurgents and the liberals' nightmare; Ralph Reed, who aspires to build a modern "pro-family" movement; Clint Bolick, who wants to convince civil rights leaders that their liberal programs hurt the people they are meant to help; Grover Norquist, who divides the world between right and left; and David McIntosh, who takes the movement's war on Washington into the halls of the U.S. Congress.These new conservatives tasted success in the shadow of Reagan's twin presidential victories and were locked out by the moderates who followed him. Now they've risen to positions of national influence and are poised to shape the national agenda.
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