If you want to understand how the Republican Party became what it is today, this book will provide the road map. In American Psychosis, journalist and commentator David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, traces the GOP’s lineage back 150 years and documents its episodic, but consistent, ties to white supremacy movements. Corn focuses most of his attention on the last half century, from the McCarthy era until now, with special attention to the rise of Newt Gingrich, the religious right, talk show impresarios like Rush Limbaugh, and most recently Donald Trump, all of whom exerted pressure on mainstream Republicans to adopt a more extreme ideology, lying as a tactic, and conspiracy theories to destroy opponents. Corn shows how demagoguery and hatred have made racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and white supremacy brands of today’s Republican Party. Through dogged reporting and applying historical context, Corn makes his case that the GOP’s extremism is the logical evolution of the party over time, not an aberration. Please read this book if you care about the future of American democracy.
