The Teavangelicals: The Inside Story of How the Evangelicals and the Tea Party Are Taking Back America

The chief political correspondent for Pat Robertson’s CBN News has written a breezy account of the relationship between the Tea Party movement and evangelical Christianity. This volume repeats the trite slogan that fiscal responsibility is a moral issue; hence Tea Party enthusiasts and evangelicals are a natural match. Libertarians and Ayn Rand aficionados who surely complicate this easy alliance are paid insufficient attention. The book lists key figures and organizations, offering brief summaries of each. In a rare concession, Brody writes that evangelicals “operate in a world of biblical absolutes” that is “colored in blacks and whites and not many shades of grey.” Yet for the most part, Brody champions the marriage as an inevitable progression, following the tradition of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition. There is little original reporting here. A more critical analysis awaits a future writer. (An estimated one-third of the book is missing from early review copies; missing chapters contain time-sensitive embargoed material.) (July)