The Crusader: the Life and Tumultuous Times of Pat Buchanan
My latest book is out now, published by Thomas Dunne of St. Martin's press. It is a biography of the politician and polemicist Pat Buchanan. You can order a copy at AMAZON.COM or at BARNES AND NOBLE. You can also watch a video trailer below.
Pat Buchanan is one of America’s most controversial conservative rebels. After serving Nixon and Reagan loyally in the White House, he led a self-styled “peasants revolt” against the Republican establishment that was a forerunner for the Tea Party. In 1992, he tried to take away his party’s nomination from the incumbent president, George H.W. Bush. Although he lost, Buchanan set the tone for political debate for the next two decades when he declared a “cultural war” against liberalism and a Jihad on Republican moderates. Throughout the 1990s, his radical, rollicking presidential campaigns tore apart the GOP and articulated the hopes and fears of new generation of Middle American conservatives – among them, Sarah Palin. This balanced, and often funny, account explores the highs and lows of Buchanan’s career: from his stunning victory in the 1996 New Hampshire primary, to his humiliating “grudge match” against Donald Trump in the 2000 Reform Party contest.
Based upon exclusive interviews with Buchanan, his family, and friends, THE CRUSADER provides a personal history of the conservative revolution. At its heart is a man who embodies the contradictions of the movement: a wealthy bookworm who branded himself as an everyman reactionary, a Republican insider who became a populist outsider, a patriarch whose campaigns were directed by his sister, a socially unacceptable ideologue who drew the affection of liberals and conservatives alike – Rachel Maddow, Ralph Nader, Eugene McCarthy, Ron Paul, even Mel Gibson.
THE CRUSADER tells the intimate story of the man who defined the culture war for a generation of Americans with outrage and wit; the man who, when asked what he thought about gun control, replied, “I think it’s important to have a steady aim.”
Pat Buchanan is one of America’s most controversial conservative rebels. After serving Nixon and Reagan loyally in the White House, he led a self-styled “peasants revolt” against the Republican establishment that was a forerunner for the Tea Party. In 1992, he tried to take away his party’s nomination from the incumbent president, George H.W. Bush. Although he lost, Buchanan set the tone for political debate for the next two decades when he declared a “cultural war” against liberalism and a Jihad on Republican moderates. Throughout the 1990s, his radical, rollicking presidential campaigns tore apart the GOP and articulated the hopes and fears of new generation of Middle American conservatives – among them, Sarah Palin. This balanced, and often funny, account explores the highs and lows of Buchanan’s career: from his stunning victory in the 1996 New Hampshire primary, to his humiliating “grudge match” against Donald Trump in the 2000 Reform Party contest.
Based upon exclusive interviews with Buchanan, his family, and friends, THE CRUSADER provides a personal history of the conservative revolution. At its heart is a man who embodies the contradictions of the movement: a wealthy bookworm who branded himself as an everyman reactionary, a Republican insider who became a populist outsider, a patriarch whose campaigns were directed by his sister, a socially unacceptable ideologue who drew the affection of liberals and conservatives alike – Rachel Maddow, Ralph Nader, Eugene McCarthy, Ron Paul, even Mel Gibson.
THE CRUSADER tells the intimate story of the man who defined the culture war for a generation of Americans with outrage and wit; the man who, when asked what he thought about gun control, replied, “I think it’s important to have a steady aim.”
Advance reviews
"Patrick Buchanan, an ardent voice of conservatism, Washington
insider, columnist, and presidential candidate, deserves a good biography. This
is it. Timothy Stanley, a young English scholar and himself a former candidate
for Parliament, brings a fresh, outsider’s eye to the remarkable career of Pat
Buchanan."
--Donald T. Critchlow, Barry Goldwater Chair of American Institutions, Arizona State University "Stanley's biography of Pat Buchanan combines meticulous research, including the fruits of multiple interviews, with highly accessible prose and judicious judgments. The author has managed to write a work in which his personal sympathies have in no way colored his scholarship. This may become the authoritative biography of a fascinating public figure, who served and advised American presidents and then spearheaded a populist revolt against our political establishment." --Paul Gottfried, author of Conservatism in America "The life story of Pat Buchanan offers a new and fascinating angle on the rise of the conservative Right. Stanley’s eye for both the telling detail and the big story insures that The Crusader is not only fascinating biography. It is also very important history." --Lizabeth Cohen, author of A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America |
"Patrick Buchanan's ideological militancy,
political pugnacity, and biting humor enliven the pages of Timothy Stanley's
colorful biography. The crusader's career encapsulates the odyssey of the
Right from Richard Nixon to the Tea Party movement. Buchanan is a
founding father of today's political polarization, but conservatives and
liberals alike will enjoy Stanley's fast-paced, fair-minded narrative."
--Bruce Miroff, author of The Liberals' Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party." For more than three decades, Pat Buchanan has lived a fascinating, aggressive life swimming in the crosscurrents of conservative revolt. He has articulated the cause, not as a sideline commentator but as a gladiator in the arena. He has been often written off, but as a writer, moralist, candidate, and talking head Buchanan keeps bouncing back. In The Crusader, Tim Stanley has written a compelling, important history of this durable man and his colorful times."--Adam Clymer, author of Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography |