79 min listen
Mothers of Conservatism (w/ Michelle Nickerson)
FromKnow Your Enemy
ratings:
Length:
72 minutes
Released:
Feb 27, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Matt and Sam talk to Michelle Nickerson about her brilliant book, Mothers of Conservatism, which explores the lives and political activism of conservative women in the Los Angeles area in the 1940s and 50s. Unlike many other conversations on the show, this one is less about intellectuals and ideas than social history—a description of how, as Nickerson puts it, housewife activists worked to "protect the nation from aliens, internationalism, and power-hungry bureaucrats in Washington." Topics include: the Great Depression and the rise of "housewife populism," conservative bookstores and "Americanism" centers run by women, the networks of activism that conservative women built and deployed, fierce battles over public education, the menace of psychiatry and the social sciences in shaping education policy, and more.Sources:Michelle Nickerson, Mothers of Conservatism (Princeton University Press, 2012) "Stefanik's Rise and Cheney's Fall Mark a New Role for GOP Women," Washington Post, May 13, 2021Alan Brinkley, "The Problem of American Conservatism," American History Review, April 1994Jean Bethke Elshtain, Jane Addams and the Dream of American Democracy (Basic Books, 2002)...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon to listen to all of our bonus episodes!
Released:
Feb 27, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
The Rise of the Illiberal Right: From the recent Sohrab Ahmari-David French debate over liberalism to Republican gerrymandering and manipulation of the census, there's a lot happening on the right—and it's not good. In this episode, Matt and Sam connect conservative theory and practice to explain the illiberal politics that threaten American democracy. by Know Your Enemy