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Rachel Doyle
Phone: 314.977.2538
doylerl@slu.edu

September 6, 2005

Phyllis Schlafly is one of the most powerful figures in the modern conservative movement. Now, a Saint Louis University professor is giving readers an unprecedented look at the life of a woman who was revered by her supporters and despised by her opponents.

Donald Critchlow, Ph.D., spent three years writing and researching “Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman’s Crusade.” Princeton University press will release the book in October. Princeton University Press is promoting the 425 page book to the general trade market.

The author and editor of 12 books, Critchlow was given complete and unrestricted access to Schlafly’s personal papers and also researched more than 50 other archival collections for this work. A scholar with a keen interest in American political and policy history, Critchlow believes that Schlafly represents the transformation of American politics in the last half of the twentieth century.

“We have witnessed a political revolution,” Critchlow said. “What was once the political fringe, conservative Republicanism, has emerged as the mainstream.

“I am fascinated in the transition from the small conservative movement in the 1950s to the one that assumed political power in the 21st Century. A small group of Republicans managed to take control of the party, and Phyllis Schlafly is a major driving force behind that movement.”

In the book, Critchlow tells Schlafly’s story – how the Missouri-born mother of six children became one of the most controversial figures in modern political history. Schlafly, who is both revered and hated, gained fame with her best-selling book “A Choice, Not An Echo.” Schlafly became synonymous with the antifeminist movement after rallying against the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1972. At 81 years old, she still is active in the Republican party.

Advance praise for the book as been overwhelmingly positive. Jane Sherron DeHart of the University of California at Santa Barbara, Ruth Bader Ginsberg's biographer, calls Critchlow’s work “timely and wonderfully researched.”

Princeton University Press is so confident that the book’s sales will be strong, they are planning book tours for Critchlow in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego. Pre-sale orders of the book are already being taken online at Amazon.com. The press has independently contracted with a New York public relations firm, Goldberg and McDuffie to promote the book.

Critchlow’s other works on modern American politics, public policy and business include “Intended Consequences: Birth Control, Abortion, and the Federal Government in Modern America”; “Studebaker: The Life and Death of an American Auto Company, 1852-1963”; “The Brookings Institution, 1916-1952: Expertise and the Public Interest in a Democratic Society”. He is also the co-author of a textbook, “America's Promise: A Concise History of the United States.”

This fall, Critchlow will continue to balance promoting his book with teaching duties at the University.