In the Spring of 2009, the Tea Party emerged onto the American political scene. In the wake of Obama’s election, as commentators proclaimed the "death of conservatism," Tax Day rallies and Tea Party showdowns at congressional town hall meetings marked a new and unexpected chapter in American conservatism. Accessible to students and general readersSteep: The Precipitous Rise of the Tea Party brings together leading scholars and experts on the American Right to examine a political movement that electrified American society. Topics addressed by the volume’s contributors include the Tea Party’s roots in earlier mass movements of the Right and in distinctive forms of American populism and conservatism, the significance of class, race and gender to the rise and successes of the Tea Party, the effect of the Tea Party on the Republican Party, the relationship between the Tea Party and the Religious Right, and the contradiction between the grass-roots nature of the Tea Party and the established political financing behind it. Throughout the volume, authors provide detailed and often surprising accounts of the movement’s development at local and national levels. In an Epilogue, the Editors address the relationship between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In the Spring of 2009, the Tea Party emerged onto the American political scene. In the wake of Obama’s election, as commentators proclaimed the "death of conservatism," Tax Day rallies and Tea Party showdowns at congressional town hall meetings marked a new and unexpected chapter in American conservatism. Accessible to students and general readersSteep: The Precipitous Rise of the Tea Party brings together leading scholars and experts on the American Right to examine a political movement that electrified American society. Topics addressed by the volume’s contributors include the Tea Party’s roots in earlier mass movements of the Right and in distinctive forms of American populism and conservatism, the significance of class, race and gender to the rise and successes of the Tea Party, the effect of the Tea Party on the Republican Party, the relationship between the Tea Party and the Religious Right, and the contradiction between the grass-roots nature of the Tea Party and the established political financing behind it. Throughout the volume, authors provide detailed and often surprising accounts of the movement’s development at local and national levels. In an Epilogue, the Editors address the relationship between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

List of Illustrations

Introduction: The Rise of the Tea Party
Christine Trost and Lawrence Rosenthal

Part I: What Manner of Movement?
1: The Tea Parties in Historical Perspective: A Conservative Response to a Crisis of Political Economy
Charles Postel

2: Reframing Populist Resentments in the Tea Party Movement
Chip Berlet

3. View from the Top: A Report on Six National Tea Party Organizations
Devin Burghart

4: AstroTurf versus Grass Roots: Scenes from Early Tea Party Mobilization
Clarence Y.H. Lo

Part II: "The Real Americans": Motivation and Identity
5: The Tea Party: A "White Citizenship" Movement?
Lisa Disch

6: The Past and Future of Race in the Tea Party Movement
Joseph Lowndes

7: Of Mama Grizzlies and Politics: Women and the Tea Party
Melissa Deckman

Part III: New on the Bloc: Political Impact
8: Grand Old Tea Party: Partisan Polarization and the Rise of the Tea Party
Movement
Alan I. Abramowitz

9: The Future of the Tea Party: Scoring an Invitation to the Republican Party
Martin Cohen

10: The Tea Party and Religious Right Movements: Frenemies with Benefits
Peter Montgomery

Epilogue

About the Contributors
Index