Furious Minds

The Making of the MAGA New Right

By: Laura K. Field

Narrated by: Laura K. Field

This audiobook narrated by Laura Field tells the story of the radical conservative intellectual movement shaping Donald Trump's agenda—and how it threatens American freedoms, values, and democracy

Donald Trump is not a big thinker, but his 2016 presidential victory presented a grand opportunity for people who are, and it set off a radicalization and reconfiguration of the American conservative intellectual world. In Furious Minds, Laura Field, who spent close to a decade in conservative academic circles, chronicles the rise of the New Right—the network of academics, public intellectuals, and influencers who provide ideological fuel to Trumpism. This movement includes figures such as Patrick Deneen, Christopher Rufo, Peter Thiel, and JD Vance. Their agenda is built to last, and it has dire long-term implications for liberal democracy.

The New Right has precedents in American history, but it is distinct for its youthfulness, misogyny, and extraordinary successes—most notably the elevation of Vance to the vice presidency. The movement—which draws together associates of the right-wing Claremont Institute, National Conservatives, Postliberals, and the Hard Right—advocates nationalist economics, tight borders, isolationism, and reactionary social values. It helped to strategize January 6th and created Project 2025. But above all, the New Right is engaged in a vast culture war against modern liberal pluralism. It is determined to harness state power and use it in new, illiberal ways, from college campuses to the international scene—all driven by the fantasy of restoring a pure America.

Incisive and urgent, Furious Minds tells the story of the thinkers of the New Right—and their powerful assault on American freedoms, values, and ideals.

©2025 Laura K. Field (P)2025 Princeton University Press

Thoughtful insider analyses

Thank you for producing this important book on the state of the US right now. So insightful

Depressing but Smart

Brilliant deep-dive into the “intellectual” underpinnings of the current regime. Critical to understand not just what is happening but why.

An Outstanding Overview of the Ideas that Elected Donald Trump

As some who studied under Straussian professors at Claremont Men's College, I appreciated the enlightening insider perspective provided by Ms. Field. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to understand contemporary American politics.

Indispensible

If you're wondering whether there is an intellectual underpinning to the wild discord in present politics on the right and if so what it is, then this is the book for you. I can't see how anyone would understand it without a volume like this. It's both a history and beastiary of the (sometimes) learned voices usually beneath the public cacophony. You get the founding luminaries. You get the one's you've heard of and the one's you haven't. You get the cliff notes on each of them. And, you get goats separated from sheep. The author is not necessarily hostile to the ideas or personalities and does a great job of putting them in rows and columns. If you're familiar with Yascka Mounk's The Identity Trap as a map to the identitarian left, this is like that but more thorough and featured.

Thorough and well researched information throughout

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the current direction of our nation.
At times hopeful and at other turns highly discouraging, this book is honest, truthful, informative and accurate.
Well worth the time invested in listening.