I should have stopped reading when I got to 

This book was a quick read. Despite that the author has a lot of long & twisted sentences. I guess my vocabulary was expanded but the experience would have been better if he'd been more direct. 

There are some interesting ideas in this book. The major focus that religious businesses being the galvanizing force that propelled the religious right into a more powerful position politically instead of abortion is somewhat intriguing. Honestly I got confused in his timeline because he talked about abortion being used as an issue that ousted democrats in the 70s but that it wasn't deemed important until the 80s. But I believe he missed the boat in regards to evangelicals from earlier centuries & those of today. The idea that the evangelicals of yesteryear weren't as interested in personal conversions as those of today I can't buy. Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is what many people think of when the idea of scaring someone into heaven comes up. Also one of the big complaints against the religious right today is that they want to control society. I'm sure the author isn't a fan of what they are pushing (like he wasn't a fan of earlier evangelicals pushing prohibition) but they are certainly interested in making society "Christian" just like the reformers of yesterday. 

Also history is complicated. I'm sure racism played a role in the religious right in the 80s and today. I'm sure abortion played a role as well. I'm sure religious freedom played a role. The Civil Rights movement & the pill along with Nixon & the Soviets probably had roles as well. Politics makes strange bedfellows & I find it hard to believe that the "founding" of the religious right came down to one thing.