Viewing the modern right as more than a passing fad for status-anxious individuals, Amy Ansell and the contributors in this volume examine the critical role right-wing ideology and policymaking practice have played in the reorganization of key elements on the American political landscape.

Each author in this volume provides a contribution to an alternative perspective on the relevance of today's conservatism in American thought and politics.

Based on a common recognition that the 1994 victory represented much more than the temporary infiltration of right-wing extremists or the public's spontaneous combustion of reactionary sentiments but rather twenty-plus years of diligent, conscientious organizing on the part of new actors on the right, the authors here agree that the American right wing continues to be a force to be reckoned with.

Despite the apparent failure of the Republican Revolution and subsequent reelection of Clinton to office in 1996, the political and sociocultural forces that contributed to the 1994 victory are still very much at play, demanding that those interested in reversing the rightward drift of political opinion and government policy thoroughly understand the processes at work if another swing to the right is to be successfully combated.