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For good or ill, conservative women have moved mountains in America's past. The prohibition of liquor is just one example. So is the banning of books in schools. Now they have helped organize the Tea Party, and their new political engagement may change American political culture in unpredictable ways. Their assault on the misogyny in the Republican Party, for example, may repeat some of the changes that occurred when feminists challenged the Democratic Party in the 1970s. Perhaps they will build a large base in the Tea Party and elect their own leaders. It is also conceivable, as in the past, that they may disappear into their homes and churches and become a footnote in the history of American politics. Given the current economy, however, that is unlikely.

That the Tea Party panders to fear and resentment is well known. One of the dirty little secrets of the movement, however, is that the conservative movement is, in part, fueled by female members who are angry and resentful at being excluded from Republican and conservative politics.

When the Tea Party emerged in 2009, most progressive critics characterized it as a sprawling movement of "angry white men." But it is also a party of angry white women. Everyone in the Tea Party shares an ideology that calls for freedom from government, very low taxes, and an inchoate desire to "take back America," both from the state and, for many, the changing racial composition of our society. But, according to several national polls and research done by sociologists Devin Burghart and Leonard Zeskind, unlike most such groups, between a third and a half of Tea Party activists are female. So, why have so many women been attracted to the Tea Party? To put it bluntly, one reason is that some women love men who love guns, love men who hate the government and loathe taxes, or love men who are not afraid to voice racist and xenophobic feelings. In short, they are the intimate partners of Tea Party men. A second reason is the role religion plays in attracting women. Sociologist Kathleen Blee suggests that there are probably more religious women than men in the Tea Party. Some of them are conservative Christians who promote fundamentalist views on abortion and homosexuality. But even those evangelical women who are not religious fundamentalists tend to see themselves as part of a "Christian Nation." However, a critical reason neglected by journalists and political analysts is that many women in the Tea Party have long harbored resentment against their marginalization in the Republican Party. Or they view the movement as a way to gain entry into political life. Sometimes their goal is to protect their families from perceived dangers, but often it is a way to become a leader, to be heard, and, through a new kind of conservative or evangelical feminism, to become active in the public arena or even to begin a new career. As one member put it, "In the Tea Party, women have finally found their voice.". Adapted from the source document.

Years later, I would tell my friends never to shirk their jury summonses. This is the most democratic experience you'll ever have, I'd insist. But when I first arrived at the Alameda County Superior Courthouse, located in what was the gritty area of downtown Oakland in the late 1980s, I had little desire to serve on a criminal trial. I simply assumed that no sane assistant D.A. would accept me as a member of a jury because I was a professor, a Berkeley resident, and a lifelong liberal activist.

Steve Lerner's story of Diamond, Louisiana, is one of the most remarkable tales that has ever been told about the environmental justice movement, which began in the early 1980s. Through the voices of the major characters in the battle, he offers a vivid account of how a local struggle for clean air gradually gained international support and became part of the global campaign to redefine environmental health as a human right.

Richard Nixon is justly famous for opening up China, covering up Watergate, vetoing a comprehensive child care act, and passing some of the most protective environmental legislation in our nation's history. But until I read Stephanie Coontz's engaging and provocative history of marriage, I did not recall that he had predicted—as early as 1970—that we would have to wait until 2000 before gay marriage would be acceptable to the American people.

Rosen reviews Marriage, A History: from Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz.

Rosen reviews Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor by Steve Lerner.