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Praise for Talk Radio’s America:

“The rise of conservative talk radio has changed American politics and American life, and Brian Rosenwald tells a careful and comprehensive story of its rise and its mushrooming influence. From Rush Limbaugh’s humble beginnings to the election of Donald Trump, Talk Radio’s America shows through careful research and subtle argument how talk radio moved well beyond entertainment and grievance to change the role and makeup of mainstream media, the kinds of stories Americans consume, and the pliable nature of truth. A superb guide to one of the most potent forces in modern political history.”

―John Dickerson, 60 Minutes correspondent

“At long last, Brian Rosenwald has filled a scholarly vacuum by offering a cogent, well-researched, and entertaining explanation of how Donald Trump was elected president. The conventional wisdom that Trump won by swinging 80,000 voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan might be factually accurate, but is too simplistic. Instead, Rosenwald proves that the outcome of the 2016 election was three decades in the making, made possible by the emergence of a candidate perfectly suited to capitalize on an environment created by the titans of talk radio. This is the book that provides proper context for the greatest election upset in modern American history.”

―Michael Smerconish, Sirius XM and CNN host

“Moving the discussion of contemporary conservative media out of the realm of shadowy conspiracy theory and into the sunlight of deeply researched historical investigation, Brian Rosenwald shows how right-wing talk radio moved from the margins to the mainstream and warped American politics in the process. This book will be of vital interest to anyone concerned about restoring the quality of American democratic debate.”

―Joseph Crespino, author of Atticus Finch: The Biography―Harper Lee, Her Father, and the Making of an American Icon

“Before there were social media echo chambers, before there was Fox News, there was Rush Limbaugh and his kin. Brian Rosenwald has told the definitive story of how a squad of outrageous, rule-breaking right-wing radio hosts set the Republican Party agenda and then overtook the party itself. Scholarly and yet eminently readable, this book is indispensable for understanding the world conservative media wrought.”

―David Greenberg, Rutgers University

“Upending conventional wisdom, Brian Rosenwald’s deeply researched book offers an incisive account of how conservative talk radio transformed American politics, altering the relationships between Congressional leaders and rank-and-file members, between activists and the party establishment, and between the demands of entertainment and the process of policymaking.”

―Bruce J. Schulman, Boston University

Book Summary:

Talk Radio’s America traces the format's path from apolitical roots to becoming a major conservative political outlet. It argues that hosts have emerged over the last twenty-five years as Republican party leaders. Hosts perform many traditional leadership functions, including fundraising and motivating listeners to vote, and they also use their unique platforms to aid Republicans in spreading a message and combatting crises. Hosts are not, however, traditional party bosses who choose nominees in smoke filled back rooms. Instead, they exemplify a new type of outsider party leader whose main focus is enacting a policy agenda.

While talk radio largely benefits Republicans, Talk Radio’s America also details how the medium has constrained elected Republican leaders and hindered their ability to build a big tent party by enacting an agenda with broad appeal. Hosts aim to be entertaining, authentic, and principled, and to communicate clearly and unambiguously. As such, talk radio often fits bombastic outsiders and their ideas more comfortably than deal cutters who are looking to govern. Governance typically requires compromise and nuance, especially during divided government (which existed for twenty of twenty-eight years in the talk radio era). Deal cutting, however, is tantamount to surrender in the black and white world of talk radio. 

Unsurprisingly, over time hosts have become increasingly hostile towards moderate Republicans and, especially in the last decade, conservatives inclined to compromise. Because of hosts’ ability to affect primary elections, talk radio has contributed to the increasing conservatism of the Republican party, and to political polarization and gridlock.

During the Obama years, the power of talk radio and its closely related siblings, cable news and the blogosphere, made it almost impossible for elected Republican leaders to generate consensus within the House and Senate Republican caucuses. The result was greater power for Democrats, a government shutdown, open warfare among Republicans, and stardom for previously obscure legislators who pass talk radio’s purity test. In fact, the medium’s ability to elevate and empower colorful outsiders has, in many ways, inverted the power structure on Capitol Hill, at times rendering governance virtually impossible.

Talk Radio’s America concludes with the election that talk radio built—the 2016 Republican primary, which in many ways served as a natural culmination of the forces unleashed by talk radio’s development into a political force. The campaign actually bitterly fractured talk radio because it presented hosts with two dream candidates. Business mogul Donald Trump embodied the ethos of talk radio—offering unvarnished, politically incorrect commentary on issues, castigating traditional politicians, trashing mainstream journalists and eschewing political convention.