Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right

Abstract

Lisa McGirr's Suburban Warriors is an excellent example of the value of combining political with community history. Examining the evolution of conservatism in the post–World War II years, McGirr uses Orange County, California, as the focus for her study. In the process, she addresses several important and frequently overlooked questions: who were the people—not the leaders—behind this grass-roots movement? Why did they get involved? What did they do? Perhaps most important, she asks how a movement with such intimate ties to the past could flourish in an area so dependent upon modern technology for its economic base and cultural identity. McGirr succeeds in addressing the latter question more thoroughly than she does the former. Still, she tells us plenty about southern California and the people who settled there. Building on an already conservative base of ranchers and small business people, migrants who arrived during and after 1945 reinforced the existing laissez-faire, individualistic attitudes. The strong military and defense presence contributed to the growing right-wing perspective of Orange Countians. The overwhelming number of newcomers from the South and Midwest added their social conservatism and religious fundamentalism to create a climate ripe for the modern conservative movement. McGirr fleshes out this section with a few personal narratives drawn from her interviews with participants.

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