Gang of Five Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Ascendacy [Paperback]

InGang of Five,bestselling author Nina J. Easton reveals the hidden history of American politics in the last thirty years. It's the story of theother,less well-known segment of the baby-boom generation: young conservative activists who arrived on campus in the 1970s in rebellion against everything sixties and went on to overturn the political dynamics of our country.Gang of Fivefocuses on the lives and careers of five major figures.
BILL KRISTOL, the Harvard-educated intellectual andWeekly Standardpublisher
RALPH REED, the hardball politico and strategist for the Christian right
CLINT BOLICK, the constitutional lawyer and bleeding heart libertarian
GROVER NORQUIST, the anti-tax activist and leader of the so-called vast right-wing conspiracy
DAVID McINTOSH, the fresh-faced congressman and architect of the Right's war on regulation
Gang of Fiveis a major contribution to contemporary history that explains how we arrived at the politics of today.Nina J. Eastonis a former reporter for theLos Angeles Times.An award-winning writer, her articles have appeared inThe Washington Post, Esquire, The New Republic, The Boston Globe,and other major publications.Chapter 1: Contrarian

It was in the nature of the times to talk back. Oratory as ridicule, the language of 1960s activists, troubled the Harvard University administration nearly as much as windows smashed and buildings blockaded. Even in the fall of 1970, with the decade officially closed, anti-war demonstrations ebbing, and the media declaring the death of the New Left, caustic retort (in reply to the Establishment version of truth) remained a highly developed art form inside Harvard Yard. William Kristol, Harvard class of '73, patently rejected the political ethos of his generation. He was, nevertheless, a master of its style, a first-rate smart aleck.

He arrived that fall pumped full of trenchant ridicule for the anti-war aclӔ