Republican extremism is running amok. How did the GOP get in this mess? Robert Brent Toplin shows the radical shift occurred long before Donald Trump entered the White House. An early sign of trouble occurred in the 1950s when Joseph McCarthy engaged in reckless demagoguery. In later decades militants purged moderates, rejected compromise, and disparaged political opponents. Now extremism poses a crisis for the United States and the world. This gripping narrative, loaded with fascinating details, shows how the Republican Party lurched to the right and polarized the nation through its positions on elections, the presidency, the economy, the Supreme Court, race relations, guns, immigration, Covid, crime, the mass media, climate change, international relations, and warfare. Republican Extremism is essential reading for anyone seeking insights on the origins of America's fractured politics.

"What a wide-ranging book, a fast-paced read, full of shrewd insight and provocative arguments." BRUCE SCHULMAN, author of The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Politics, and Society

"Robert Toplin's perceptive and wide-ranging book Republican Extremism reveals how Donald Trump is not an exception but part of a long legacy of Republican demagogues stretching back to Senator Joe McCarthy." STEVEN J. ROSS, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America

"Robert Toplin's insightful book brings the weight of history to bear on the strain of radicalism that now infects the Republican Party." JOHN BODNAR, author of Divided by Terror: American Patriotism Since 9/11

Robert Brent Toplin, a university professor, has published a dozen books and more than 150 articles about history, politics, and film. He has commented on history in nationally broadcast television and radio programs and has received numerous awards and fellowships for scholarship and teaching.