Two phenomena are of central interest in the nine contributions that make up this volume: one is the question of power and its multiple forms, and the other is that geographical, political and cultural multifaceted unity we call the 'the Americas'. The book is a multidisciplinary effort, written by scholars from the fields of history, political science, anthropology, sociology and cultural studies, who all share an interest in the ways in which power is projected in the Americas. Some contributors focus on the sources of power, while others are more concerned with how it is presented and legitimized by those who hold it. Likewise, some investigate the relations between government and citizens, while others look at more informal structures of power. Common to all contributions, however, is that they attempt to trace the forms that political and social power take in different American contexts - from the highest echelons of political power in Washington, D.C. to the local politics of a small village in Mexico. Common to all contributions is a nuanced exploration of the various manifestations of political and social power in the Americas.

Tells the compelling story of how the American conservative movement in the two decades following World War 2 managed to move from obscurity to the centre stage of national politics. When Dwight D Eisenhower in 1952 defeated the conservative champion Robert Taft and won the Republican presidential nomination, many on the American right felt that they had become homeless within the established party system. The brand of liberalism which permeated the nation's intellectual life had also become bipartisan political doctrine. The feeling of cultural and political ostracism triggered a quest for an independent conservative network of organizations, with the hope of either 'taking back' the Republican Party or creating a viable alternative. The first part of "Right Face" recounts the often bitter struggle to define the meaning of conservatism in modem America. Part two concerns the search for influential national outlets for conservative opinion, whereas part three focuses on the movement's actual plunge into electoral politics -- not least on its well-planned takeover of the Republican Party machinery in 1964 and the resulting presidential nomination of Senator Barry Goldwater. An epilogue attempts to trace main currents in the evolution of American conservatism since the 1960s, as well as to assess the extent to which American conservatives have managed to create the 'Counter-Establishment' they set out to create more than half a century ago. In a sense the conservatives actually set out on two different quests: one was for intellectual respectability; the other was for political power. As this study reveals, the two goals were not always compatible. Based on extensive archival sources, RIGHT FACE provides an incisive analysis of the conservative movement and the forces that shaped it. With its blending of intellectual and organizational developments, it adds an important chapter to the history of American political culture in the 20th century.