{"product_id":"empire-of-direct-mail-how-conservative-marketing-persuaded-voters-and-transformed-the-grassroots-9780700633418","title":"Empire of Direct Mail: How Conservative Marketing Persuaded Voters and Transformed the Grassroots","description":"The rapid growth of the conservative movement has long fascinated historians, many of whom have focused on the grassroots efforts in the Sunbelt. \u003ci\u003eEmpire of Direct Mail \u003c\/i\u003eexamines how conservative operatives got their message out to their supporters through computerized direct mail, a significant but understudied communications technology. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe story centers on Richard Viguerie, a pioneer of political direct mail who was known as the \"Funding Father\" of the conservative movement. His consulting firm established a database of conservative prospects and mailed millions of unsolicited letters. By the 1970s, Viguerie emerged as the central fundraiser in conservative politics, financing right-wing organizations and politicians such as George Wallace, Jesse Helms, and Ronald Reagan. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMoriyama shows that the rise of right-wing direct mail communication in the postwar years coincided with a new strategy: the use of this new technology to stoke negative emotions, such as fury and fear, among the letter recipients. In the period of broadcasting, conservative fundraisers established the new approach of targeting individual voters and promoting negative emotions to win elections. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBefore Rush Limbaugh's talk show, Fox News, Twitter, and Cambridge Analytica, conservatives used direct mail to spread messages of anxiety and anger to raise funds and mobilize the grassroots. Through extensive archival research of fundraising activities in the conservative movement and key elections from 1950 to 1980, \u003ci\u003eEmpire of Direct Mail\u003c\/i\u003e offers a political history of the role played by communications technology in the development of modern US conservatism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-15196006\"\u003eTakahito Moriyama\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Press of Kansas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/26\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 264\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.79lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.56d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780700633418\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0700633413\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-POL\"\u003ePolitical Science\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-POL008000\"\u003ePolitical Process | Campaigns \u0026amp; Elections\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-POL\"\u003ePolitical Science\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-POL042020\"\u003ePolitical Ideologies | Conservatism \u0026amp; Liberalism\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-POL\"\u003ePolitical Science\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-POL065000\"\u003ePolitical Process | Media \u0026amp; Internet\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University Press of Kansas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44528114893037,"sku":"9780700633418","price":49.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_1fffb328-752d-4da2-a641-c7255fbc1203.jpg?v=1701384205","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/empire-of-direct-mail-how-conservative-marketing-persuaded-voters-and-transformed-the-grassroots-9780700633418","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}