Fascinating and essential reading for anyone wanting to better understand the intersections of race, religion, and conservative politics in the contemporary United States. Samuel P. Perry’s careful analysis reconciles seemingly disparate conspiracy theories surrounding President Obama’s faith and birthplace by demonstrating them to be logical extensions of the dominion theology that predominates the Christian Right.

Ryan McGeough, University of Northern Iowa

Through the discourse of the Christian Right, Samuel P. Perry illustrates the convergence of race, politics, and religion in American life. This text is essential reading for anyone interested in these constructs, individually or in combination.

Michael S. Waltman, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This is an important and timely argument that critically deconstructs the ideological strategies of the far right wing of Christianity in the United States. Perry ultimately demonstrates how epideictic rhetoric dominates the discourses of the Christian Right, in effect displacing the possibilities for deliberation, conciliation, and political pluralism. His conclusions are chilling: The schisms in the contemporary political scene are, in part, symptomatic of the gravitational pull of far right Christian ideology on the GOP.

A. Susan Owen, University of Puget Sound