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American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century [Paperback]

Kevin Phillips
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (211 customer reviews)

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Book Description

March 27, 2007
An explosive examination of the coalition of forces that threatens the nation, from the bestselling author of American Dynasty

In his two most recent bestselling books, American Dynasty and Wealth and Democracy, Kevin Phillips established himself as a powerful critic of the political and economic forces that rule—and imperil—the United States, tracing the ever more alarming path of the emerging Republican majority’s rise to power. Now Phillips takes an uncompromising view of the current age of global overreach, fundamentalist religion, diminishing resources, and ballooning debt under the GOP majority. With an eye to the past and a searing vision of the future, Phillips confirms what too many Americans are still unwilling to admit about the depth of our misgovernment.


Frequently Bought Together

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century + Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich + Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis ofAmerican Capitalism
Price for all three: $42.35

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The title of political analyst Phillips's latest book may overstate his case (in the text, he prefers the term "theocratic direction"), but his analysis likely will strike chords among those troubled by our current political moment. Phillips (American Dynasty) expounds upon historical parallels for each of his three subjects. In his section on "Oil and American Supremacy," for example, he points to Britain's post-WWI involvement in the Middle East as an analogy to Iraq, and in his section on radicalized religion, he warns of "the pitfalls of imperial Christian overreach from Rome to Britain." The five major measures of U.S. debt—from national to household—keep setting records, he observes in his section on "Borrowed Prosperity," and the real estate boom spurred by the Federal Reserve, he argues, cannot continue. Phillips identifies the escalating clout of the financial services industry and suggests that Americans should emulate policies in Asia that encourage savings and in Europe that encourage manufacturing. The lesson of the past, he warns, is that intractable national issues "generate weak and compromising politicians or zealous bumblers." A critic of the Bush family, Phillips sees little hope in Hillary Clinton. Expect him to make some provocative appearances on chat shows. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This former Republican strategist has written several books on the relationship between wealth and politics in this country, including the New York Times best-sellers Politics of Rich and Poor (1990) and Wealth and Democracy (2002). Phillips' abiding theme is given a workout again in his new book, with his major thesis spelled out on the first page of the preface: three demons threaten the continued well-being of the U.S. These are our "reckless dependency on shrinking oil supplies," a "milieu of radicalized (and much too influential) religion," and a "reliance on borrowed money" (domestic and international debt, that is). His stiff--no harsh--words are aimed primarily at the Republican Party for allowing these three trends to have gotten out of control, but Democrats, without offering clear and tangible alternatives, are not let off the hook. The author's investigation into these three problems is set in a historical context as he posits the undeniable fact that all previous world economic powers have ultimately failed in continued strength (each one, however, believing "they were unique and that God was on their side"). Phillips is eloquent, absorbing, and frightening, and this book will follow its predecessors onto the best-seller lists. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (March 27, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0143038281
  • ISBN-13: 978-0143038283
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (211 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

This book is very well written and researched. Scott  |  17 reviewers made a similar statement
The book is divided into three parts. John D. Cofield  |  20 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
172 of 188 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Consequences Of Rabid Republican Conservatism! March 21, 2006
Format:Hardcover
Author, advisor, and academic Kevin Phillips is a man of considerable intellect. In the late 1960s he penned a signal work ("The Emerging Republican Majority") that successfully prophesized the ways in which massive socioeconomic and demographic shifts in American society from a northern and industrial one to one more centered in what he euphemistically referred to as the "Sunbelt". In detailing this momentous transformation, Phillips made some then-startling prognostications how such a shift in population and potential electoral votes would presage the long-term shift to a more conservative and Republican-oriented political majority for generations to come. Of course, being a conservative Republican himself, he assumed that this development meant greater fiscal responsibility, more rationally-based international savoir-faire, and much greater social stability. Yet, as he admits in his latest volume, "American Theocracy", that is hardly what the record reflects having transpired in the intervening thirty five years.

Instead, in this calm, clear, and well articulated tour of the social, economic, and political territory with which he is so familiar, Phillips describes the contemporary topography of conservative republican rule as being an inhospitable and ungovernable landscape pocked by craters of ideological fervor, fiscal insanity, and unspeakable personal greed. In many ways, his well-articulated broadside against the political right is all the more damning because it is not only from a true believer, but also from an outstanding academic with a persuasive resume, a man who carefully documents and substantiates everything he cites, especially in this scathing look at exactly where it is that the 21st century's form of rabid Republican conservatism is leading us.
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661 of 743 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars The pot calling the kettle black March 21, 2006
Format:Hardcover
This is the kind of book that would have kept me up at night had I read it six or seven years ago. American Theocracy convincingly and chillingly compares the current situation in the U.S. to that during the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire, The British Empire, Hapsburg Spain, and the Dutch Republic. Scared yet?

Author Kevin Phillips comes up with a series of characteristics of what he called a "power already at its peak and starting to decline." The list includes a polarization of the society and widespread concern with cultural and economic decay; growing religious fervor and an increasingly close relationship between church and state; a rising commitment to faith over reason; growing government debt; and "hubris-driven national strategic and military overreach."

Jeez, open most days' newspaper and don't be surprised to find concrete examples of each of these points.

The point risks being lost amid all the white noise predicting doom and gloom of different sorts these days. No doubt most readers will find themselves a little more jaded to these sorts of prognostications than they would have been just a few years back.

But what separates Mr. Phillips from the pack (at least to some extent) is his curriculum vitae: he is the same Kevin Phillips who, as a Republican strategist in the 1960s, shattered the Democrat's "solid south" in his book The Emerging Republican Majority. Most political scientists credit the book with sowing the seeds that handed the Republicans the White House in every election since then that didn't feature a highly-intelligent southern governor on top of the Democratic ticket as a way to wrestle a few electoral votes away south of the Mason-Dixon line.

If Mr.
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130 of 143 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Who Will Hear This Wake Up Call? March 21, 2006
Format:Hardcover
Kevin Phillips is one of the most widely read and acclaimed in this field. Of his many works, "The Emerging Republican

Majority" written 40 years ago in 1969, gives him the credibility, as well as his 13 other books since. "American Theocracy" discusses the 5 decades of growth many recent developments occurring in the US political, economic, religious and cultural realm in the GOP. He supports his points with lots of research and referencing.

Phillips states the GOP and US government are "a fusion of

petroleum-defined national security; a crusading, simplistic

Christianity; and a reckless credit-feeding financial complex."

At one time, the GOP was the party of stability, order, low taxes, low spending, and small government (in theory at least).

The author notes the transition of the GOP to what many others think and believe today: In 2006, it's over. The Republican party can never argue again that it's the party of low taxes and spending, and small government. The 'big-government GOP' began long before The G.W . Bush administration, but Bush 43 has greatly exacerbated to shift to big spending, big

government, conglomerate control, and the erosion of personal

liberties and freedom of speech. Today there is a Cult of Personality and a lack of critical thought and even disdain -- to the slightest questioning or criticism of American domestic and foreign policy: Bushbots. Federal bureaucratic interference in education with the "No Child Left Behind," Act, and the promulgation of the pseudo-scientific "Intelligent Design." The federal government's interference in the Schiavo case is another clear example of many, noted in "American Theocracy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Religion, Oil and Politics, and interesting brew. Great analysis and...
This work is pat of an analysis of the multifaceted realities of current American politics and cultural movements. Great conversation starter.
Published 1 month ago by Chip Wall
5.0 out of 5 stars American Theocracy
This is the second book of Kevin Phillips that I have read. Gives you a complete different look at what happens around you everyday.
Published 3 months ago by Mary
5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic Must-Read
I read this amazon book after seeing the author interviewed on BookTV.

Born in 1940, he was a political advisor to president Richard Nixon, and originally a Republican,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Robert V. Rose
1.0 out of 5 stars Not Theocracy
I read this book because it was recommended to me by a friend as persuasive that theocracy threatened America. Read more
Published 8 months ago by HE Larson
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!
I purchased this book for my husband who's always interested in politics, power and the money behind them. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Susan K. Dunaway
1.0 out of 5 stars Interesting bashing
Conservative bashing at it's finest. Blame Bush for the evils of the world.
Interesting that 3 years of Obama and an uber left progressive agenda have accomplished.........?
Published 16 months ago by Mamba107
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly important.
Kevin Philips was a Republican political strategist who conceived of himself as primarily concerned with the well-being of the American Middle Class. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mason Dixon
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile Book
I was amazed the 1st 97 pages of this book. It confirmed my beliefs that American Over Seas Policy is driven by corporations, peak oil theory, and clandestine operations. Read more
Published on February 25, 2011 by Ivan
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
It took a while to get to me. But the seller asked about the book and checked the delivering status for me which is nice. Read more
Published on February 16, 2011 by Fairy
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and Strident
A powerful indictment (if sometimes strident) of the Bush administration presidencies (both father and son) and the Republican party as well. Read more
Published on January 8, 2011 by Mike B
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Topic From this Discussion
Kevin Phillips' Anti-Christian?
M. Widrick should apologize not for having read only the NY Times' review of Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy, but for not having read it well. Far from being "another secular liberal bigot, like most of the liberal baby boomers," the review makes it clear that Mr. Phillips was a... Read more
Mar 20, 2006 by Joe Cicero |  See all 5 posts
The US is not an "empire"
The definition of the word "empire" is as follows:

A political unit having an extensive territory or comprising a number of territories or nations and ruled by a single supreme authority

By this definition, the US is an empire. And for the record, the US has gone around conquering... Read more
Mar 26, 2006 by W. YOUNG |  See all 29 posts
NPR - liberal spew?
I don't think you really understand why the Mexican immigration problem is so critical. A cheap labor source will ensure that wages stay low. Minimum wage hikes are passed on immediately to the consumer so they hurt more than help. This unholy alliance between Republicans and their corporate... Read more
Jun 7, 2007 by Patrique |  See all 16 posts
Conservative hypocrisy
Dick doesn't "keep" a straight face intentionally. Think about it, have you ever seen him actually smile? You have to have a soul to show emotions/remorse.
Apr 6, 2006 by Dale L. Rohling |  See all 8 posts
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