Rick Perlstein

Rick Perlstein on the Influence of Garry Wills

The author of a popular and rigorous history of modern conservatism discusses the influence of the prolific public intellectual on his research and writing. 

Perlstein's "Reaganland" Sheds New Light on a Familiar Story

by Ron Steinman

Rick Perlstein's "Reaganland" captures details of the 1980 campaign that weren't obvious even to political journalists covering Reagan's ultimately successful mission to take the conservative movement to the White House. 

Q&A: Historian Rick Perlstein on Media ‘Bothsidesism,’ and Why 2020 Definitely Isn’t 1968

Rick Perlstein has been reluctant to do media appearances, perceiving that journalists may use historical analogy as a shortcut to investigating and explaining the present. He discusses his thoughts on history and the media with CJR. 

Trump’s America Remains Stuck in the Shadow of Reagan (Review)

A reviewer of Rick Perlstein's "Reaganland" stresses that Donald Trump today presides over a corporate oligarchy that Reaganism helped build by drawing new, politically active corporate lobbyists into coalition with social conservatives.

Rick Perlstein’s Reaganland: America’s Right Turn, 1976-1980

by James Thornton Harris

Rick Perlstein's latest volume in his study of the rise of the conservative movement focuses on the coming of Reaganism, but sheds light on how we got Trump.

How Reagan Captured the Presidency, and the Right Captured Politics (Review)

by Michael Bobelian

Rick Perlstein's latest history of American conservatism is reviewed as a lens on today's aggrieved conservatism. 

Reaganland' Author Revisits The Roots Of American Conservatism (audio)

Author Rick Perlstein chronicles the events that propelled Ronald Reagan to the White House in 1980. He says that a certain "viciousness" has always been part of the conservative Republican coalition.

‘Reaganland,’ by Rick Perlstein: An Excerpt

'Reaganland: America's Right Turn, 1976-1980' is available now.

Rick Perlstein: 'If you're not writing about the berserk, you're not writing about America' (Interview)

The historian has completed his epic on the rise of the US right – just in time for Donald Trump’s attempt to hold on to his throne.

How the GOP Became the Party of Resentment

Historian Patrick Iber reflects on "Reaganland," the concluding volume of Rick Perlstein's genre-defining series of books on American conservatism, and urges readers to consider how the movement mobilized anger and resentment as opposed to high principle. 

The Republican Choice: How a Party Spent Decades Making Itself White

Talk of “election integrity” by the Grand Old Party is inextricably intertwined with its modern history of pandering to racist elements of American life; any attempt to disentangle these stories and tell them separately is disingenuous, even if it angers partisans.

Rick Perlstein interviews Daniel Ellsberg about his new book and it’s scary reading

The book: "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner."

Rick Perlstein says liberals shouldn’t trust the anti-Trump Republicans

by Rick Perlstein

No, not even Jeff Flake.

Rick Perlstein’s still drawing brickbats for his confession in the NYT that historians (like him) have misinterpreted modern conservatism

by Josh Mound

Some historians insist economics really explains Trump’s victory.

Rick Perlstein says Trump proved he (and other historians) didn’t understand the American right

by Rick Perlstein

In an article in the NYT Magazine he writes that the history of conservatism has to be rewritten to include "political surrealists and intellectual embarrassments, its con artists and tribunes of white rage.”

Rick Perlstein is asked if Trump’s like Nixon

by Jon Wiener

Well, they both disliked the media, but only Trump was undisciplined enough to come out and say it.

Reagan’s bizarre defenders: Rick Perlstein, phony centrism and the strange attack on history

by Paul Rosenberg

The right attacked an acclaimed historian's Reagan book. What's really odd is how the sensible, smart set responded.

Review of Rick Perlstein's "The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan"

by Ron Briley

Perlstein, seeking to make some sense of the Reagan phenomenon, offers somewhat of a new take on the culture wars of America during the 1970s. He divides the nation into skeptics or doubters, willing to interrogate national policies and institutions, and true believers who unquestionably embrace American exceptionalism.

Rick Perlstein hits back at a critic of his book on Reagan

The three-time NYT bestselling author takes on Slate’s Jacob Weisberg.

Rick Perlstein response to Sam Tanenhaus's complaint that he's an aggregator

by Rick Perlstein

"I hate criticizing reviews. I’m just honored people are paying attention. Then Sam Tanenhaus wrote this about a book, The Invisible Bridge, that I worked on for six years ...."