Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Dan Gilgoff's new book, The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War.About the book, from the book's website:
More than two-dozen amendments to state constitutions banning gay marriage. The reelection of George W. Bush by winning nearly 80 percent of the white evangelical vote. The Terri Schiavo congressional intervention. The Christian Right has achieved more in the last few years than at any time in its history. Yet the story of the man and the organization that have orchestrated those successes — James Dobson and his Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family — has gone almost entirely untold.
Until now. [Read more....]
Among the praise for the book:
"Dan Gilgoff has written an excellent account of the political activities of Focus on Family and its important role in national elections. Fair and factual, this book can be profitably read by allies and adversaries alike."Visit The Jesus Machine website and read excerpts from the book.
--John Green, Director, Bliss Institute, University of Akron
"In a time of overheated discussion about religion and politics, U.S. News reporter Dan Gilgoff went out and got the facts and reports them straightforwardly in The Jesus Machine. Gilgoff provides the definitive account of Dr. James Dobson, his Focus on the Family organization and other Christian activists, one that can be read with profit both by admirers and detractors of their movement."
--Michael Barone, Senior Writer, U.S. News & World Report, and co-author, The Almanac of American Politics
"Gilgoff is a writer and journalist of the first rank - dependably honest with the facts and yet able to interpret them in light of the big picture. This is a book that evangelicals, as well as the critics of our movement, should surely read."
--Richard Cizik, Chief Lobbyist, National Association of Evangelicals
"In the deluge of books rushing to explain the rise of conservative evangelicals' influence on American politics, Gilgoff's offering makes a unique contribution: he argues that press-shy James Dobson should be regarded as the most powerful evangelical spokesman of the last decade (surpassing Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson).... This is a smart piece of investigative journalism."
--Publishers Weekly
The Page 69 Test: The Jesus Machine.
--Marshal Zeringue
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