Ronald Reagan has long been lionized for building an enduring conservative coalition sustained by an optimistic vision of American exceptionalism, small government, and free markets. In fact, the Reagan coalition was short-lived; it fell apart as soon as its charismatic leader left office. In Partisans, historian Nicole Hemmer offers a bold new history of modern conservatism that finds its origins in the populist right-wing politics of the 1990s. Over the course of the decade, changing demographics and the emergence of a new political-entertainment media fueled the rise of combative far-right politicians and pundits. 

Nicole Hemmer is an associate professor of history and director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the Study of the Presidency at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics. A frequent contributor to national and international media, she is a columnist at CNN and hosts the podcasts Past Present and This Day in Esoteric Political History.

The Washington History Seminar is co-chaired by Eric Arnesen (George Washington University) and Christian Ostermann (Woodrow Wilson Center) and is organized jointly by the American Historical Association and the Woodrow Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. It meets weekly during the academic year. The seminar thanks its anonymous individual donors and institutional partner (the George Washington University History Department) for their continued support.