Nut Country

Well-researched and briskly written. . . . A timely, intelligent, and penetrating book."
 

"Lively. . . . Miller's is the rare book that one might wish a little longer."

"A solidly researched, well-argued, and illuminating work."

“Miller painstakingly details how a combination of newfound wealth (and a desire to hold on to it), a sudden rise of the middle class (which allowed for a single breadwinner and freed wives to dabble in politics), and the need for new residents to assimilate resulted in a highly conservative political stance riddled with deep-seated racism and 'conspiratorial' John Bircher thinking. Miller’s outstanding research allows him to weave a number of parallel stories, most notably his portrayal of the role of women working behind the scenes to enact this political shift. An insightful examination of a political shift that endures to this day.”

"A well-argued and compelling account. . . . Worth reading for the anecdotes alone."

"With Texas-sized ambition and a touch of flair, Edward Miller taps the fascinating history of a surprisingly understudied place--Dallas, the 'Athens of the Southwest'--to reorient our understanding of America's Republican Right. Out of the heated warfare that divided this city’s ultra- and moderate conservatives during the 1950s and 1960s emerged a pragmatic, potent, and anxious Republicanism that would capture the south in the 1970s and the nation in the years that followed. Packed full with colorful characters and surprising turning points, rich with historical insight yet pertinent to today, Nut Country is a book that students of U.S. (not just Texas!) history need to digest in order to appreciate why the 'Big D's' brand of politics has long held sway."

"If you want to read a riveting account of how the Republican Party became conservative after World War II, pick up a copy of Edward H. Miller's Nut Country. What makes this journey into political history so captivating is the local story of Dallas. From the pews of the First Baptist Church to the lobby of the Adolphus Hotel, Miller walks his readers vividly through the webs of family ties, social rituals, and political brokering through which locals participated in establishing a spectrum of conservative positions rather than a set ideological stance. Be prepared to have your definition of 'conservative' broadened by the fine research of this book."

"Phoenix, Orange County, and even bucolic Sharon, Connecticut can all lay claim to being foundational places in the making of modern conservatism. Edward Miller moves our sights to the Lone Star state. He makes a bold and convincing claim that if you want to understand the conservative movement, we have to reckon with Dallas, Texas: 'Nut Country.' Featuring a memorable cast of characters--H. L. Hunt and General Edwin Walker not the least among them--Miller's book reveals how conservatives used racial politics in Dallas to change the fortunes, forever after, of the American right and the Republican Party."