The Right: A Century of American Conservatism

Matthew Continetti • The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism (2022)

Three Entities, One Century: The Right, the Conservative Movement, and the GOP

Continetti's key distinction: "the Right" (all opposition to the political left), "the conservative movement" (the self-conscious post-1950s coalition), and the GOP (the electoral vehicle conservatives sometimes capture, sometimes distrust, and sometimes fail to control) are not the same thing and do not always move together. Click any era tile or point to explore his argument.

Phase

Governing / Mainstream

Opposition / Exile

Building / Revival

Populist / Insurgent

Fragmented / Contested

Transitional / Alliance

Introduction (framing)

Swimlane: Three Entities Across Continetti's Narrative

Each row is a distinct entity. They are not always in the same phase — that divergence is part of Continetti's argument. The gold Introduction tile marks the book's retrospective vantage point (2003). Scroll right to see all eras.

The Oscillation Axis: Elite Institution-Building vs. Populist Insurgency

Continetti's master theme — the Right's recurring swing between these poles. Click any point to see the era.

Click any era tile in the swimlane, or any point in the oscillation chart, to explore Continetti's argument for that period.

The Six Major Shifts Across the Whole Book

Shift 1 — 1920s to 1930s

From mainstream Republican normalcy to beleaguered anti-New Deal minority. The Right loses governing legitimacy with the Depression and is thrown into exile for the first time.

Shift 2 — 1940s to 1950s

From scattered critics to anti-communist coalition. Anti-communism provides a common language, a shared enemy, and the institutional infrastructure conservatives lacked.

Shift 3 — 1960s to 1980

From intellectual movement to party capture. Goldwater plants the seed; Nixon broadens the GOP's social base; Reagan completes the fusion and makes conservatism electorally majoritarian.

Shift 4 — 1990s to 2000s

From Reagan synthesis to post-Cold War fracture. Without the Soviet threat, fault lines over trade, immigration, foreign intervention, and culture reopen and deepen.

Shift 5 — 2008 to 2016

From establishment conservatism to populist-nationalist GOP. The Iraq War, Great Recession, and media fragmentation destroy the old gatekeepers and open the door for Trump.

Shift 6 — Trump Era

From defending institutions to attacking them. The Right once revered the Constitution and Congress; it increasingly treats both as obstacles to populist ends.