“Wrapped in the Flag should have been published yesterday. Claire Conner’s personal journey through the paranoia, repression and small-mindedness of the John Birch Society is a much needed primer on the techniques and conspiracy theories dominating the cable networks and right-wing zealots of today….This is a well-told and gripping story no one can afford not to know, and we need to know it before it is too late.”
~ Judy Huge, educator, Goucher College professor, and workshop direction of the International Women’s Writer’s Guild (IWWG) Summer Conferences at Skidmore, Brown and Yale.
Claire Conner’s memoir, Wrapped in the Flag: What I Learned Growing Up in America’s Radical Right and Why It Matters Now, uses intimate personal vignettes intertwined with the history of the era to chronicle her parents’ descent into the world of paranoid politics, a world dominated by the John Birch Society, a anti-Communist, populist movement dedicated to “taking back the country.”
Claire’s father, Stillwell J. (Jay) Conner, was the first and most visible member of the Birch society in Chicago. He served on the National Council of the organization for 32 years with men like Fred C. Koch (father of today’s infamous Koch brothers) and a host of other wealthy, powerful and radical men. After the Birch society labeled President Dwight Eisenhower a dedicated Communist, Claire’s father garnered significant media attention. The scandal that ensued made “Bircher” a term of derision. As a child of “Birchers,” Claire was shunned in school and isolated from friends and neighbors.
Over twenty-five years, Claire evolved from a compliant 13-year-old Birch member to an outspoken, passionate progressive; a change that provoked harsh attacks from her parents. Several years ago, Claire recognized the lurch to the far right in the Republican Party for what it is: the John Birch Society reborn with political muscle, huge money and media support.
With its compelling, easy-to-read stories, Wrapped in the Flag moves seamlessly between memoir and history, humor and pain, past and present serving up keen insight into the impact of extremism on one woman, her family and, if unchecked, on the entire country.
Wrapped in the Flag takes readers on a ride to the dark side of American political extremism. It is a warning to anyone who dismisses the Republican stampede to the right as harmless. Claire knows, from experience, what the radical right believes and the kind of American they want. Claire, an accomplished speaker, is rallying Americans to say “no” to this new radical agenda before we wake up in a country controlled by Tea Partiers and their big-money corporate bosses, no-government libertarians, fundamentalist-evangelical Christians and John Birchers.
Claire Conner welcomes the opportunity to share her story with audiences, large and small. Click here to email her directly for scheduling information and available dates.