Contrary to prevailing discourse, which suggests that Americans today are more secular than ever, this book shows that there still exist a multitude of Americans who are firm enough in their religious beliefs to mobilize in support of a faith-based agenda as long as they have the motivation and leadership to do so. Written in plain narrative form — and with a clear bias in favor of the Christian Coalition — Joel Vaughan's book nevertheless provides a rare account of the inner workings of what he believes to be one of the most effective political organizations of the late twentieth century. After all, the Christian Coalition did play an integral role in fostering the firm entrenchment of religious conservatives in the Republican Party.

Vaughan does not attempt to present a comprehensive argument in favor of the religious right's political agenda. Instead, he strives to defend the Christian Coalition as an important, legitimate player in American interest group politics. True to the book's title, he provides detailed descriptions of the organizational methods that led to the Coalition's success as a grassroots political movement, and the mistakes made along the way that ultimately led to its decline. He takes a prideful and defensive stance throughout the book, addressing some of the controversies that arose around the group and its founder, Rev. Pat Robertson, during its time in the political spotlight — all the while consistently stressing the overall virtue of the Coalition and its members.

The book reveals that the Coalition's success throughout the 1990s may largely be attributed to its ability to organize voters and get them to the polls. It enjoyed the unique advantage of having access to large numbers of like-minded people gathered in one place at least once a week (on Sundays). The Coalition strategically used its access to evangelical congregations to spread its message, recruit activists, and distribute its famous voter guides. Vaughan describes how mobilized evangelicals gathered electoral influence in the Republican Party by defeating the more moderate candidates in primaries (as the Tea Party movement has done more recently) and then flocking to the polls to elect those candidates to office in general elections. Eventually, the Republican Party realized it could not afford to ignore such a large, politically active constituency, and so religious conservatives earned a place at the table.

Although Vaughan highlights the Coalition's history of compliance with Internal Revenue Service requirements for tax-exempt status, he attributes the Coalition's decline to a combination of factors that plunged it into abysmal financial trouble. The permanent breakup of the original organization into two separate entities came after the Internal Revenue Service officially denied the Coalition's request for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status on the grounds it engaged in systematic electioneering activity benefiting the Republican Party. In addition to its troubles with the Internal Revenue Service, the presidency of Bill Clinton contributed to the Coalition's decline. Clinton's presence in office had given the group much motivation to stay active on the political front. Vaughan ironically blames part of the Coalition's decline on its overwhelming success during the 1990s, which ended up diminishing activists' incentive to contribute money and volunteer their time.

Also central to the narrative is the systematic assertion that Christian Americans have just as much right to organize and influence politics as any other organized interest; to deny them this right would amount to discrimination. Vaughan's staunchly accommodationist approach is perhaps one of the book's major weaknesses; it is not always clear where the normative argument begins and the empirical one ends. The book presents a one-sided view of the appropriate role of religion in American politics alongside a useful description of the de facto role of religion in politics. It also arguably contributes to the literature on effective campaign strategy and could be useful to other nonprofits to read about how the Coalition built itself into a political success story (albeit a short-lived one). In fact, Vaughan expresses some satisfaction with the failure of the Coalition's liberal copycat — the Interfaith Alliance — to do just that.

Overall, the book merits the time of readers seeking a descriptive account of the rise and fall of the Christian Coalition, those interested in interest group growth and maintenance, and anyone wishing to read about the pro-family movement from a favorable angle. However, since the author makes no attempt to hide his bias and contempt for political liberals, it can be expected to stir up further criticism from that side, while conservatives will undoubtedly approve of the message. In the end, I suppose the book serves Vaughan's purpose by providing an accurate rendering of the Christian Coalition from an insider's perspective.