Crunchy Cons

Book excerpt: When a colleague teased writer Dreher one day about his visit to the "lefty" local food co-op, he started thinking about the ways he and his conservative family lived that put them outside the bounds of conventional Republican politics. Shortly thereafter, Dreher wrote an essay about "crunchy cons," people whose "Small Is Beautiful" style of conservative politics often put them at odds with GOP orthodoxy. Dreher was deluged by e-mails from conservatives across America saying "Hey, me too!" Here, Dreher reports on the depth and scope of this phenomenon, which is redefining the taxonomy of America's political and cultural landscape. At a time when the Republican party, and the conservative movement in general, is bitterly divided over what it means to be a conservative, Dreher introduces us to people who are pioneering a way back to the future by reclaiming what they feel is best in conservatism.--From publisher description.