Shadow Network

The chilling story of the covert group that masterminds the Radical Right's ongoing assault on America's airwaves, schools, environment, and, ultimately, its democracy.

In 1981, emboldened by Ronald Reagan's election, a group of some fifty Republican operatives, evangelicals, oil barons, and gun lobbyists met in a Washington suburb to coordinate their attack on civil liberties and the social safety net. These men and women called their coalition the Council for National Policy. Over four decades, this elite club has become a strategic nerve center for channeling money and mobilizing votes behind the scenes. Its secretive membership rolls represent a high-powered roster of fundamentalists, oligarchs, and their allies, from Oliver North, Ed Meese, and Tim LaHaye in the Council's early days to the DeVos family, Steve Bannon, and Tony Perkins today. The group deploys a media empire to flood heartland news deserts with its propaganda; bankrolls handpicked colleges to promote extremist libertarian ideas; and grooms up-and-coming politicians to advance its cause. Most recently, the coalition has joined forces with the Koch brothers to build state-of-the-art platforms for capturing and utilizing all-important voter data-outmaneuvering the Democratic Party in an information arms race whose result has yet to be decided.

With astonishing clarity, award-winning journalist Anne Nelson reveals the Council's history and illuminates its tactics. In a time of stark and growing threats to our most valued institutions and democratic freedoms, Shadow Network is essential reading.