C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy

by Jeff Sharlet

C Street - where piety, politics, and corruption meet

Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have reported from inside the C Street House, the Fellowship residence known simply by its Washington, DC address. The house has lately been the scene of notorious political scandal, but more crucially it is home to efforts to transform the very fabric of American democracy. And now, after laying bare its tenants' past in The Family, Sharlet reports from deep within fundamentalism in today's world, revealing that the previous efforts of religious fundamentalists in America pale in comparison with their long-term ambitions.

When Barack Obama entered the White House, headlines declared the age of culture wars over. In C Street, Sharlet shows why these conflicts endure and why they matter now - from the sensationalism of Washington sex scandals to fundamentalism's long shadow in Africa, where Ugandan culture warriors determined to eradicate homosexuality have set genocide on simmer.

We've reached a point where piety and corruption are not at odds but one and the same. Reporting with exclusive sources and explosive documents from C Street, the war on gays in Uganda, and the battle for the soul of America's armed forces - waged by a 15,000-strong movement of officers intent on "reclaiming territory for Christ in the military" - Sharlet reveals not the last gasp of old-time religion but the new front lines of fundamentalism.

Genres: Politics, Religion, Nonfiction, History, Christianity, Philosophy, Conspiracy Theories

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2010

About the author

Jeff Sharlet is the New York Times bestselling author and editor of eight books of creative nonfiction and photography, including The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, The Family—adapted into a Netflix documentary series of the same name hosted by Sharlet—and This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers. Sharlet is a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, Harper's, and Rolling Stone, and an editor-at-large for VQR. He has also written for The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Esquire, The Atlantic, The Nation, The New Republic, New York, Bookforum, and other publications. His writing on Russia’s anti-LGBTQIA+ crusade earned the National Magazine Award and his writing on anti-LGBTQIA+ campaigns in Uganda earned the Molly National Journalism Prize, the Outright International’s Outspoken Award, and the Americans United Person of the Year Award, among others. He has served as a Nonfiction Panel Chair for the National Book Award and received multiple fellowships from MacDowell. Sharlet is the Frederick Sessions Beebe ’35 Professor in the Art of Writing at Dartmouth College. He lives in Vermont, where he is trying to learn the names of plants.

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/12/2025 addendum: This book was read and the review was originally written in June 2012. It is actually a follow-up to a much-better and more in-depth reportage by Jeff Sharlet called "The Family". I read the second book first only because I was unaware that it was a "sequel". The book is fascinating, although I'm sure reading it now, I might actually find it even more terrifying, especially with everything going on in the world today. Most recently, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which is a horrible tragedy, points out a militancy borne out of a radicalized evangelical Christianity as well as an inevitable militant backlash against radicals on the Far Left. I feel sorry for Kirk's family, but I honestly can't shed a tear for the guy. He was a vicious hatemonger who invited and incited religious intolerance and violence. As the saying goes: Live by the sword, die by the sword...


The main title of Jeff Sharlet's book, "C Street", meant nothing to me when I first picked it off the shelf. It was the sub-title, "The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy", that intrigued me.

I consider myself a Christian, but I must be a pretty awful one (According to fundamentalists, I should probably be ashamed to even call myself one, which I'm not...) because I automatically cringe and feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I see or hear the words "fundamentalist".

To me, "fundamentalist" brings to mind the type of Christian I do NOT want to be, the type of Christian that represents everything I detest about religion, and the type of Christian that I fear has become the majority within our government and churches.

Sharlet's book (which is apparently a follow-up to a previous book called "The Family" which I have not read yet) is a very calm reportage of a quietly sinister conspiracy, although "conspiracy" is not the right word because it is going on seemingly within plain sight.

Arguably, Sharlet may be making a mountain out of a molehill (a criticism that, I'm sure, many conservatives and/or fundamentalists have made with the book already) or, as I believe, has merely tackled the tip of the iceberg. It is an extremely well-written book, and it is a very disturbing book.

C Street is the name given to a non-profit entity based in Washington, D.C. (its full name is the C Street Center, Inc.) which, at times, houses, entertains, and is the headquarters to a religious movement known simply as The Fellowship, a.k.a. The Family (the subject of Sharlet's previous book), comprised of senators, congressmen, state representatives, governors, judges, and other people within positions of authority in the D.C. area. While there are a few Democrats within its ranks, a vast majority of members are Republicans.

What do they do at C Street? Well, by most accounts, the place seems to be a place where Christian men (and very few women) of power can just go to pray, have devotional time, study the Bible, and seek fellowship with other Christian men of power. This, of course, is by most accounts, which is unfortunately not a lot, because, as Sharlet writes, "one of the first rules of C Street is that you don't talk about C Street." If the allusion to the film (and Chuck Pahlaniuk's book that the film is based on), "Fight Club", is unsettling, it is meant to be.

What could be wrong with a group of stressed-out Christian men who simply want to come together for Bible study and prayer? Well, Sharlet's answer seems to be, It depends on whether those Christian men (all of whom would be described as having fundamentalist views) are "simply" there to pray and study the Bible, or if there are policy decisions and deal-making going on. The inevitable question would be, So what if there is?

It wouldn't be a big deal, except for what IS known about the Family and its edicts and dogma, told to Sharlet by a few Family members (whose identities have been protected by Sharlet) who seem to be afraid of what the Family has become and by a few Family members who aren't afraid to share their identities because they are pretty excited about what the Family is becoming: a stepping-stone to the creation of a Christian fundamentalist-run government. A government controlled by a select few who, as Sharlet writes, "believes that its members are placed in power by God; that they are his "new chosen"."

It would be a government in which the poor stay poor and the rich get richer because one of the edicts of Christian fundamentalism is that God has chosen the poor to be poor (that's why they're poor) and the rich to be rich (because they are obviously morally superior). It would also likely be a government that would outlaw homosexuality, adultery, and divorce. It would also likely be a government intent on eradicating the false religions of Judaism and Islam within this country and abroad through pre-emptive wars (much like the war on Iraq initiated by Bush, who, not surprisingly, is a member of the Family) intent on forcing countries to convert to Christianity. Granted, this all sounds pretty far-fetched and worst-case scenario, right?

Unless one looks across the ocean to Uganda, a country in Africa (a continent that many Americans don't give two shits about), which has already begun to institute strict anti-homosexuality laws. Homosexuals caught in the act would face prison or worse. Even people who "harbor" or fail to inform law enforcement about homosexuals could face prison themselves. Needless to say, many gay men and women in that country have gone underground or fled.

Sharlet clearly shows links between Ugandan government officials (newly converted to Christian fundamentalism) and several Family members. While he never comes out and says it (perhaps because it is an unfounded accusation), Sharlet cleverly implies that Uganda is, in many ways, an experiment to determine how anti-homosexuality laws could be implemented in this country.

This book is very scary, assuming one believes that the Family is as calculating and corrupt as Sharlet seems to imply. My initial impression is that these Christian men aren't evil, simply misguided. They truly believe that their intentions are good, and they honestly believe that they are morally right. But if history has shown us anything, it is that some of the most horrific acts of injustice and barbarism have occurred with the best of intentions.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 2 out of 5]

'C Street'by Jeff Sharlett is very interesting and the book clearly has been deeply researched! The book is primarily a political walkabout in various countries with amazing interviews with very scary politicians and soldiers. These real-life characters have huge authority over either powerless people or ignorant supporters who are unaware of the true nuttiness behind their secret Fundamentalist religious agendas. Despite the delusional religious anxieties and paranoia, these powerful individuals and NGO's present a smooth persuasive front of normalcy.

This book reveals the incredible weirdness going on behind closed doors and far from cameras under the name of faith and religious rituals supposedly demanded by the Bible. These activities are plainly freaky and bizarre. Yet, military leaders and congressmen are doing them in all earnest faith, utterly aware that their bizarre beliefs and anti-democratic activities would lose their constituents and supporters if someone made available a YouTube video exposing their prayer meetings and discussions. They are knowingly toning down their real agenda for the public.

I think (hope) the average voter would be horrified at the extent of Fundamentalist philosophy driving some American politicians and military leaders. By the way, many are completely open that they are on a Crusade exactly like the ones in the Middle Ages, and many of the richest men in America and biggest corporations are giving millions - MILLIONS - of dollars to these messianic crusaders, buying votes and influence for their causes. Only a few of the usual Republican supporters are as besotted with Fundamentalism as these Congressmen and certain non-government organizations (NGOs) are, but those few wealthy supporters, and they are almost all rich White men, are as extreme Fundamentalist believers as the politicians and organizations they pour their money into.

Yes, I share Sharlet's views and opinions, but he too often interrupted his narrative with inflammatory commentary and overheated insults. I got very annoyed and skimmed a lot as a result. Plain investigative exposition would have been sufficient to demonstrate his theme. These crazy religious-sect evangelical fundamentalists are in charge of key committees and jobs, and they are promoting a Fundamentalist agenda in plain sight. They are often successful because of powerful- friends networking, duplicitous wordplay and hidden sleight-of-hand financial tricks, as well as boldfaced lying and superstitious blackmail.

While fascinating and terrifying in the exposé of hidden Christian Fundamentalist agendas which are propagating narrow, hate-based Christian religious beliefs under the false flag of moral leadership, I felt the book was 75% ranting. My low rating of the book is not because I think the facts or stories are untrue, or that I disagree that powerfully placed Christian fundamentalists are using deception to get rid of the freedoms America currently allows its citizen's to enjoy. (I feel even worse for those converts the book describes in Africa who've accepted Christian fundamentalism because it makes it easier for resource-stealing despots to beguile their off-the-grid populations into accepting their deprivations because 'it's god's will.' ) I disliked the author's constant, irritable editorializing and complaining about the lunatic prosthelytizing.

The ranting rage of the author really dragged down the reading of the book, but the facts are irrefutable.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

One ought not to throw the word "cabal" around too loosely but it's hard to know what else to call the Christian dominionists of the quite secretive organization known variously as The Fellowship or The Family. They own quite a bit of property near the centers of power, including the titular building in Washington.
Founded in the mid-1930s by a Norwegian businessman who saw union-busting as next to godliness, the organization has evolved in name, statement of principles and public profile. Currently, the National Prayer Breakfast is their most visible manifestation.
Sharlet has written about the organization before. The focus on the C Street building allows him to detail the extramarital affairs that several congressman used both the building and its tenants to facilitate - entertainingly salacious but not the reason to read the book. The way in which Christian right types tend to justify all their transgressions as somehow part of God's plan is more worrisome - in general, they regard themselves as having been "called" into public life in an inarguable way by a being who can't be double-checked with (you knew this but hearing it reiterated in direct quotes is useful).
The chapters on The Fellowship's tentacle-spreading throughout the Middle East and Africa are particularly alarming and there is considerable detail on Uganda and its Anti-Homosexuality Act.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most frightening books I've ever read. And I believe every word written.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This successor volume to the author's previous and Netflix-available multipart documentary on 'The Family' carries the story of the largely occult fundamentalist, right-wing sponsors of the National Prayer Breakfast through to 2010. Opening with three of the recent sex scandals of some of their hypocritical Republican members and carrying through with their history of influence and self-concealment both here and abroad (especially focused on Uganda's draconian anti-gay movement), the book ends with a discussion of their influence on the U.S. military--all in all a horrifying picture of some of the background of what now constitutes Donald Trump's 'base'.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished it after bookclub, and I’m pretty happy about that as it meant I got to the last chapter having digested other people’s viewpoints.

As a militant atheist, I find books like this pretty straightforward. The message for me is always “look at the fucked up crap that other people’s religion is doing to my government”. It is fascinating to me that there are people who will read this and think that this is about Evangelical churches being somehow worse than others. To me that is just like evangelical people thinking that Muslims are worse than Christians. I think the last chapter was in part intended to mollify criticisms of religion in general, which fell flat for me.

Religion contaminates government. Evangelical Christianity is the one contaminating ours.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has been pretty diligent about reading Jeff Sharlet's work over the years, I was a little disappointed in this follow-up to "The Family." In it's defense, it is a follow-up and not the main course. Sharlet spends a considerable amount of time restating his previously published research, making this feel like a compilation of greatest hits instead of a new contribution. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and he acknowledges that some chapters are indeed revisited versions of old magazine articles... but the downside of this is that the content loses its luster (at least for those who keep abreast of the subject matter) as well as its value (for those of us who paid for it). To its credit, the writing is excellent and the thoughtfulness with which Sharlet approaches his work is often inspired. The section on Uganda greatly expands the reader's understanding of that country's anti-homosexual politics beyond the confines of conventional reporting.

The greatest strength of this book, unlike perhaps that of "The Family," is in the cogency of it's assessment of evangelical power. Sharlet repeatedly makes the case that the Christian Right in America is primarily a political force, bending it's theology to fit the aspirational demands of it's self-appointed ruling class. Even though Sharlet himself shies away from theological argument, it cannot, alas, be excised from this ruthless story about the acquisition of power.

[Ericka Clou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely horrifying account of the contradictory and often corrupt fundamentalist fervor in our government, in our military, and even influencing countries abroad. And it's not limited to one party, here are a few of leaders mentioned in the book:
Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.; Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; and John Ensign, R-Nev.
Reps. Michael F. Doyle, D-Pa.; Heath Shuler, D-N.C.; Bart Stupak, D-Mich.; and Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.

At one point, Sharlett summarizes the book that this is about the fundamentalist ideas that seek to subsume the ideas (and presumably the values) of democracy.

[Stephie Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells of “The Family,” a fundamentalist political organization made up of politicians, ministers, and other like minded people. They had/have a townhouse on C Street on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. It is a follow up to his book by the titled The Family. Jeffrey Sharlet relates a handful of ways the organization works from dealing with infidelity of politicians, funding, foreign missions, and the shenanigans in the arm forces.

On a whole it is kind of scary what this group and its allies have been able to accomplish so far. How far can it go? I do not think it is likely that they could implement their whole program, either here in the United States or abroad, but they could certainly do a lot of further damage.

I would recommend this book to those who are curious about how some fundamentalists go about trying to get their agenda implemented. It may also be important to those that would seek to combat this or any other religious right group; although, this is certainly not the whole story, so further investigation would probably be needed for those that would want to follow this path.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This follow-up to The Family (2009) is an equally disturbing look at the entrenchment of extreme right-wing Christian fundamentalism in Congress, the military, and corporate America. The so-called "Christianity" of The Family, however, is little more than American exceptionalism, imperialistic hubris, homophobia, and laissez faire capitalism dressed up in religious rhetoric.

[Trin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guess what was kind of a bummer? Finishing this on election day.

[Gracemary Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time I think that I've encountered a piece of media that exposes the height of government and societal corruption I find something that lays the depressing state of our democracy even barer.

The only reason this doesn't get five stars is that I feel the focus on fundamentalism within the military, while an important topic that I enjoyed learning about, was more divorced from the C Street connection than the Ugandan anti-gay sentiment and Congressman sections.

Everything else was well researched and poignant. Oh, except for the first alternate Ensign speech. That was cringeworthy.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is well-researched and very disturbing. It focuses on world domination masked as pseudo-Christianity. It is a movement that has been in place for many years and has gained ground in the highest realms of politics. Posing as a Christian movement is an effective disguise to obtain power and deceive the general voting population. A great deal of money and hypocrisy is involved. A must read -- very informative.

[Judie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important word in the title of this book, C STREET: THE FUNDAMENTALIST THREAT TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, is "threat." According to the leaders and members of The Family, the group that owns and uses the former convent on C Street as a headquarters, the most three most important things are faith, family, and country, in that order.
Near the end of the book, Jeff Sharlet has a picture of a placard worn by his wife at a demonstration outside the Republican convention in New York City in 2004. It shows a seated Jesus with his head leaning on one hand and saying, "That's not what I meant." It sums up what the author describes as how American leaders have taken control of our government and pushed their conservative, fundamentalist, evangelistic ideas into many facets of our lives and governments.
In foreign countries, congressmen, senators, and other government leaders have convinced the leaders of those countries to embrace Jesus (if not actually converting at least saying they believe in following what the Americans say are Jesus's principles). They have been very successful, excusing the murders of thousands of civilians, by promising financial aid to the dictators if they fall into line. No wonder many Muslims think the US is trying to convert them. It is.
One of the big issues is homosexuality. Until the US and its funds became involved, Uganda had been very successful in lowering the number of AIDs cases. With US influence, very stringent anti-homosexual laws, including punishment for people who did not turn in suspected homosexuals, managed to curtail the use of condoms and increase the spread of the disease.
In this country, they have inserted their interpretation of religion into many areas of our lives. They have severely limited the ability of women to utilize planned pregnancy services and have abortions. In 2010, a Utah law even allows a prosecutor to determine if a woman's miscarriage was deliberate. They have worked to disallow cities from gun control laws while allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons almost anywhere they want. The are against environmental laws and regulation of businesses. They pushed for laws to regulate freedom of speech and peaceful protests and their supporters on the Supreme Court ruled that corporations, unnamed donors, and individuals could buy elections.
In the military, the majority of chaplains are evangelistic fundamentalists and have harassed, or worse, service members with differing religious beliefs. Many of those with other beliefs left the service. Women who joined the movement resigned their positions because they came to believe they should stay at home and raise children.
In 2005, US military officers were caught appearing in uniform while proselyting. They were forbidden to do so, but the acts have now gone underground. Hundreds of US service personnel are converted on a regular basis. The Air Force Academy buses recruits to religious services. The superintendent had no idea what "the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause" of the Constitution, which he had pledged to uphold, even meant.
This book, a sequel to THE FAMILY, should be studied by everyone who believes in America and its Constitution and all of us be aware of the threat from within.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

After watching Jeff Sharlet's "The Family" and reading his book "The Family," I thought this book could not shock me. But it did. Especially the infiltration of the military -- a perfect place for the pseudo-"Christian" right to flourish with its hierarchy, its discipline, and its focus on justified killing. Apparently, the top brass is loaded with fundamentalist "Christian" officers who push their own version of religion on the recruits who are not allowed to dissent -- an army of wolves in sheep's clothing. Because I've studied history, this slowly creeping movement feels eerily familiar.

"First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out..." by German pastor Martin Niemoller.

The book was published in 2010 and the infiltration has only gotten worse. The courts are now packed and ready.

[Jay Babcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am over 140 pages in, and feel I should point out that the title is a bit of a misnomer, as the theology of the Fellowship/Family members is distinct from the fundamentalist Christianity practiced by regular folks (i.e., not the "kings" or "chosen" or "key men" who are the focus of the organization's ministry). Not that popular figures don't appear -- Rick Warren makes an appearance as an enabler of the homo-cidal Uganda campaign.

Fascinating, enraging, and composed of wonderful prose, I will give it 4 stars provisionally, as a welcome update to the history Sharlet established in his previous book, "The Family."

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

By saying I finished, I mean I could no longer read it. The story is so clear that I couldn't handle any more of it's reality. The Family is a virulent cancer which has infiltrated every major arm of our government and world. We are in grave danger of actually living The Handmaid's Tale and stories like it. "Beware false prophets" has never been a more meaningful phrase. What better cover could the forces of evil have adopted than to sell themselves as God and proliferate using his churches. This is a total bastardization of all Jesus stood for and a massive departure from true Christianity. God help us.

[Linda Stoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Sharlet is one of the newer breed of journalists who is unopposed to offering his own opinion, his subject is a disquieting one. The level of substantiation he provides makes the case compelling indeed. In some places poorly organized, the book shows signs of being rushed for publication prior to the Nov. 2 election. (It was published Sept. 27.) The number of Kansas politicians involved with C Street is frightening -- Brownback, Moran, Tiart, and Slattery are the ones at the top of my memory; more Kansans are mentioned, I believe, than any other state.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disturbing look at a group that is successfully manipulating the system for their fundamentalist ends. A sad commentary on the state of politics in this country.

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing my exploration of the dissolution of the barrier between church and state and the perils thus entailed, I picked up C Street. It was a good read. Enlightening, humorous, chilling, and frightening. It is an examination of the shadowy Christian cabal known in Washington known as the Family and the influence it duly exerts throughout the US government.
It starts with profiles of three prominent US politicians, accounting their rise, their philanderings, and the exposure of the subsequent coverups by the Family. The Family seeks power above all, seeks to gain that power not through popular mechanisms of democracy, but through the covert influencing of kings, those whose hands grip the levers of political and military power.
Sharlet spends a lot of time in the country of Uganda where select leaders were persecuting a new draconian law that would make homosexuality a crime punishable by death within their borders. The Family sent many delegates of US politicians to visit with the lawmakers of Uganda and offer their guidance to the bill that they'd love to bring to America's shores as an example of legislative success.
The most startling, indeed the most unnerving, aspect of this book was the infiltration, nay - the infestation, of the US military by the radical Christian right. Sharlet recounted horrific hazing aimed at non-Christian and female cadets during basic training, and he documented this vulgar trend of violence compliance up the chains of command to full starred generals who implicitly reinterpret their oath to defend the Constitution as: faith first, family second, and government third. Sharlet starkly painted these leaders as individuals with suspect, if not divided, loyalties. The image of these leaders of the men and women of every denomination, plus those who claim no religion, within the US armed forces that execute their orders through the lens of their personal divinity instead of a prescribed secular hierarchy is frightening and disturbing. This issue needs to be eradicated with extreme prejudice if we are to truly live in a country in which the 1st Amendment has proper reverence and strict enforcement.
Sharlet has a flowing style that makes turning the pages an easy exercise. I had to look up a few words, so keep that dictionary close. My only complaint is the book has 39 pages of notes divided by chapter, but no corresponding number in either the text or the notes to match them together. These notes were subsequently ignored throughout the reading.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy by Jeff Sharlet

Compared to the author's previous work The Family, C Street seems like an addendum, although at nearly nine hours of listening time, the book is far more substantial than a footnote and its content and focus differ from The Family to make C Street a worthwhile read.
(Yes, there is some overlap, but reviews exasperated by this are overstated. How could there not be overlap when an author's second topical book follows the original?)
After dealing with background of the C Street residence, residents, and scandals, the book settles down to cover the hypocritical "lapses in morality" (God-forgiven, of course) of three C Street-resident politicians who were so busy with their prayer groups they barely had time to cheat on their wives. Unlike gays' existence, adultery is a sin politicians and constituents can forgive, with careful messaging and great effort to keep financial high jinks to each respective spouse under wraps.
C Street covers Mark Sanford most in-depth. Sanford, of course, is famous for disappearing for six days, supposedly hiking the Appalachian Trail but actually in Argentina building memories of his "heart's desire"'s "breasts" and "tan lines," as recorded in letters his wife would later discover. Whoops-a-daisy.
Mark Sanford gave author Jeff Sharlet heaps of information to include in the book; Sharlet wasn't as fortunate with the other C Street "prayer warriors" so their inclusion in the book seems off-balance and skimpy in comparison.
I recommend C Street, after The Family. It's a good refresher of how naively accepting (even welcoming) most Americans are of Christian supremacists, who are now American fascists with Trump, their charismatic-hero leader, at the helm.

[John McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sharlet is an insider in matters involving the house on C Street that lodged some of the most conservative Members of Congress with fundamentalist and sometimes just convenient religious views, introduced them to other conservatives here and abroad, and, when necessary, covered up their indiscretions. Sharlet, additionally, has connected all the dots in how Members of Congress use the appropriations process to reward right wing governments abroad, just so long as leaders of those governments work to promote the 'agenda of Jesus' which really means the 'agenda of Doug Coe and the other fundamentalist Christians', who define and promote their own agenda using Christian teachings to conveniently support what they do. In the process, the US military is infected, genocidal leaders abroad are supported, and human rights are abrogated and deferred to the interests of those in power.

C Street is the product of Sharlet's and his associates' investigation. It should be noted that, as thoughtful and well-researched as the book is, fully 1/3 of it is devoted to how the C Street Christians supported leaders in Uganda who, after Idi Amin, committed horrific crimes against humanity. Informative and heartbreaking at the same time, it is nonetheless a bit scattered in presentation and consumed with what seemed like every phone call and note Sharlet had during the course of his work. Someday, a good reporter and writer like Sharlet will learn the value of good editors and good editing, which make a good book an excellent book, remembering that, for readers, life is short and we've got other things to do, an author's exceptional efforts notwithstanding.

[Elizabeth Roebling · Rating 5 out of 5]

BUY this book. BUY TWO copies and give one to a friend. Find out who has been behind lots of the stuff that has been going on.... Gays getting persecuted in Uganda? The folks running the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC... Think not? This is a wonderful piece of TRUE journalism. These power brokers are now deeply embedded in both the Republican and Democratic parties and NOW in the TRUMP administration. Think Sharia law is bad? How about Christian Fundamentalism? Ignore this at your peril.

[Jo-Ann Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is chilling! It certainly helps explain the current cult that is running our country. It has been decades in the making. These people have been seduced into believing that we need to live in a religious autocracy. We desperately need to enforce separation of church and state again.

It should be required reading for anyone interested in returning democracy to our country. This is investigative reporting at its best. We need more reporters doing this kind of work and informing the public!

[Tristan Arnison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Jeff Sharlet's The Family over the summer and enjoyed this semi-sequel which reads as a similarly themed collection of articles. While not quite as exceptional as the previous book, this is still a very fascinating read. It takes on an especially sinister aspect given what has occurred within the American political landscape over the past 15 years and feels extremely presecient. Like The Family, it contextualises these developments and explores the tenets of the emergent Christian Nationalist movement in a thoughtful way. Sharlet is a remarkable writer.

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book about the far right that was disappointing.

It began really well, exciting and revealing. But then none of the plans came to fruition. The long mid book interlude to Uganda was, strange. Yes, they are influencing politics there but, and this is over simplifying, but if you have to take your show overseas, you're not doing a very good job.

Anyways, it was worth reading but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are really interested in the topic.

[Charro Sebring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since it's 2022 and I'm reading it for the first time it's really terrifying to see how all this played out over the last twelve years. More people should have read and listened to Jeff's warnings, but by 2010 it might have been too late.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very disturbing what evangelical, Republician politicians and their weathly supporters are doing behind closed doors to acquire power in the government, military and in foreign countries in the name of how they interpret religion and the Bible. A must read.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Even more significant than this 2010 book's continued, sickening relevance to today is the stunning prescience of Jeff Sharlet's final summary chapter. It's still very much worth the read. I still need to read Sharlet's much better known "The Family", for which this book is a sequel.

[Georgie Alef · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important reading for all Americans