Preparing for War
The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next
2023 • 250 pages
Ratings2
Average rating4
15
The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next
Ratings2
Average rating4
Watching the eerie footage of the January 6 insurrection, Bradley Onishi wondered: If I hadn't left evangelicalism, would I have been there? Onishi, a religion scholar and former evangelical, crafts an engrossing historical account of the New Religious Right and of White Christian nationalism that is at once intimate, taut, and unsparing.
Reviews with the most likes.
Required reading for anyone living in America in 2023. This is the most clear, to the point summary I have read to date: article, book or otherwise, that answers the question: “why are American Christians overwhelmingly White Christian nationalists who support an authoritarian and the attempted overthrow of our democracy?
He touches on Reagan, which is always what this comes back to... before, actually, to the Civil Rights Movement, Christian schools as a guise for segregation and Goldwater. The intentional marriage of right-wing politics and marketing to the evangelical vote. He draws a clear throughline from White Christian nationalism to “family values” and Dobson/FOTF to purity culture to Trump.
This is the best, well-written summary you will get without having to read a ton of other books. It's accessible, and he includes personal stories to emphasize what these beliefs look like from the inside. As someone who spent a decent chunk of my life in these spaces, 110% of his experiences ring true. This is not hyperbole.
Every reasonable politician should be reading this book so maybe they finally take it seriously. January 6 wasn't the end; it was the beginning.
I also recommend The Death of Democracy for a deep dive on Hitler's rise to power and how it parallels Trump (including the established government's lack of taking it seriously until it was too late).
