Items related to The Rise of David Duke
A gripping biography tracing the controversial Louisiana politician’s quest for political legitimacy
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Back Cover:
In 1969 a pale, skinny sophomore made himself infamous at Louisiana State University by denouncing Jews and blacks at the school's weekly free-speech forum. In 1991 he made himself famous across America by championing white rights in a feverish campaign for the governorship of Louisiana. David Duke, former Nazi sympathizer and Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, lost the election, but he captured an astounding fifty-five percent of the white vote. Duke's rise provokes profound and disturbing questions: How could he have traveled so far? Has he changed? Has America changed? Is he the same demagogue with a new haircut and a natty suit, as his opponents maintain? Or has he matured into a credible spokesman for the conservative white majority, as he claims? What does his emergence tell us about race relations in the United States today? About the level of our political discourse? About how easily a slick politician can manipulate the media? About white frustration? Or does his success simply reflect the particular genius of David Duke? Award-winning journalist Tyler Bridges, who covered Duke's political campaigns for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, examines these questions in a full-length biography of one of the most intriguing political figures of the late twentieth century. Bridges presents a compelling account of a lonely boy, the child of an alcoholic mother and an aloof father, who, idolizing Adolf Hitler and pining for the glories of Nazi Germany, decided that destiny had called him to be the savior of the white race. With an impressive roster of interviews, an eye for revealing detail, and a feel for storytelling, Bridges recounts the rise of David Duke and the coming together of blacks andwhites in a historic coalition in 1991 that stopped him short.
From Kirkus Reviews:
A sobering, solidly researched portrait of the politically adept ``twisted fanatic'' who gained a majority of white votes in two statewide Louisiana races. A New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter who covered Duke's senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns from 1990 to 1992, Bridges speculates that Duke, a junior high school outcast whose father was often absent and whose mother was often drunk, found order and release in Nazi ideology. The rest of his book covers Duke's past, including his swastika-bedecked 1970 picket of lawyer William Kunstler, his telegenic plastic surgery, and his long association with the Ku Klux Klan. Bridges notes right-wing allies disgusted by Duke's womanizing; finds a former girlfriend who reports Duke's enthusiastic trip to a Nazi death camp; and discovers Duke's use of campaign funds for personal use. But Duke's more tempered, populist rhetoric, accompanied by attacks on (black) crime and welfare recipients in the state, won him a post as state representative in 1989. In kaleidoscopic style, Bridges ably portrays the strategies and players in Duke's subsequent bids for senator and for governor, when a massive counterattack, centered less on Duke's views than on his potential negative economic effect on the state (because of threatened boycotts), ensured his defeat. With many of his sentiments co-opted by Pat Buchanan, Duke's 1992 presidential bid fizzled, but he may rise again as a radio talk-show host. Duke's mesmerizing fervor deserves a portrait like Marshall Frady's Wallace. Until that biography arrives, this will be a vital resource. (40 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherUniversity Press of Mississippi
- Publication date1995
- ISBN 10 087805684X
- ISBN 13 9780878056842
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages300
- Rating
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want