Republican Gomorrah

Max Blumenthal
August 2009     ISBN: 1568583982

Award-winning journalist and documentary videographer Max Blumenthal has been behind some of the most sensational (and funniest) exposés of Republican excesses. Whether it was his revelation of Sarah Palin’s involvement with a Kenyan pastor who boasted of epic battles with witches, his shocking reports on rapture-ready fanatic Pastor John Hagee’s ties to Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, or his exposé of the eccentric theocratic multimillionaire behind California’s Prop 8 anti-gay-marriage initiative, Blumenthal has become one of the most important and most constantly cited journalists on how a fringe movement became the Republican Party mainstream.

Republican Gomorrah—his remarkable, muckraking debut—is a bestiary of dysfunction, scandal, and crime from the heart of the movement that runs the Republican Party. Blumenthal describes with no-holds-barred detail the people and the beliefs that establishment Republicans—like John McCain—have to kowtow to if they have any hope of running for president, and how moderates have been systematically purged from party ranks. He shows why the unqualified Sarah Palin was the party’s only logical choice and how her most fanatical supporters will be setting the strategy for the Republican assault on the Obama administration. Blumenthal warns that the Christian right will quietly exploit the widespread financial misery caused by the economic meltdown while mainstream media pundits churn out faddish and unfounded tales of the movement’s death.

Inspired by the work of psychologist Erich Fromm, who analyzed how the fear of freedom propels anxiety-ridden people into authoritarian settings, Blumenthal explains in a compelling narrative how a culture of personal crisis has defined the radical right, transforming the character of the Republican Party for the next generation and setting the stage for the future of American politics.

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"A brave and resourceful reporter adept at turning over rocks that public-relations-savvy Christian conservative leaders would prefer remain undisturbed."
—Rick Perlstein, New York Times Book Review

"Max Blumenthal's bold and brash reporting style should not overshadow his keen understanding of the extremist ideology that passes for 'conservatism' in America today. A witty writer who thinks for himself, he shows the mainstream media where the story is, not vice versa. And his short videos have transformed the conservative crack-up into must-see TV."
—Joe Conason

"Over the past several years, Blumenthal's work has focused on fringe groups on the right. He has excelled in covering political activism among evangelicals. His technique is simple: he confronts the subjects and lets them speak for themselves. . . . Were it not for the determination and fearlessness of Max Blumenthal, we would [be] largely ignorant of Palin's Christianist political theology."
—Scott Horton, Harper's

Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist whose articles and video documentaries have appeared in The Nation, The Huffington Post, Salon and many other publications. He is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute.