Publisher's Synopsis
Recent events - from the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing to controversy over Supreme Court nominees - indicate the continuing need for factual analysis of American extremism and fundamentalism. Fundamentalists and Extremists, a new volume in the Library in a Book series, provides students and researchers with a springboard into this controversial and sometimes confusing subject. Fundamentalism, which may be defined as a belief in the literal truth of holy writings, has a long history in North America. Extremism, which is any political philosophy far to the left or right of the mainstream, challenges standard ideas about how society should be organized. Extremism is also often associated with the endorsement of violence as a means to achieve political goals. From the Scopes Trial of 1925 to present-day bombings of abortion clinics, the controversy over which political and social systems are advocated by the Bible has been strongly divisive.;Likewise, the anticommunism of the cold war era, left-wing militancy of the 1960s, and recent right-wing movements have also signaled nothing less than a continuing, fierce battle over the course and character of North American government and society. The views of such groups have affected such national debates as equal rights for women, the teaching of evolution, gays in the military, abortion, the impeachment of President Clinton, and prayer in public schools.
