Wingnuts: Extremism in the Age of Obama, by John Avlon

 

I was a little late in the game with this book, originally published in 2010, and updated in 2014. It's an in-depth look at the many extremist groups and movements that have arisen in the last 20 or so years, but which seemed to explode with the election of Barack Obama. I'm a fan of John Avlon's reporting; he was the editor of The Daily Beast until recently, and he's a regular on CNN; I particularly like his "Reality Check" segments. Wingnuts is a very readable, yet heavily research look at extremism in America. Avlon provides a brief history of extremism, then tackles the rise of the Tea Party, white-minority politics, partisan media, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, birthers and truthers, and much more. I was fascinated by this history, made all the more poignant by how much worse everything has gotten since 2014.