IN THE NEWS

WASHINGTON POST'S TRAIL BLOG
April 2, 2008
A McCain Skeptic, Dobson Still Not Won Over

GETRELIGION.ORG
October 31, 2007
God-o-Meter Democrats on Rise

REALCLEARPOLITICS
July 27, 2007
Has the Religious Right Found its Man in Thompson?

THE ECONOMIST
March 1, 2007
Trouble in the family
Is James Dobson's legendary power starting to wane?

REVIEWS

SOJOURNERS
August 2007
The Wizard of Colorado Springs

NEW YORK TIMES
May 27, 2007
The Gospel of Dobson

MEDIA MOUSE
April 30, 2007
Jesus Machine Review

DAILY KOS
April 14, 2007
Book Review: Dan Gilgoff's "The Jesus Machine"

WASHINGTONIAN
April 1, 2007
The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War—This new work by first-time author and U.S. News & World Report senior writer Dan Gilgoff argues that Dobson’s political influence eclipses that of all other evangelical leaders. It’s good reading for anyone trying to understand where the Republican Party is today and where it may be going.

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE
March 21, 2007
God’s Right Hand
Who’s driving The Jesus Machine?

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the deluge of books rushing to explain the rise of conservative evangelicals' influence on American politics, Gilgoff's offering makes a unique contribution: he argues that press-shy James Dobson should be regarded as the most powerful evangelical spokesman of the past decade (surpassing Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson). Gilgoff, a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report, boasts extensive interview time with Dobson at the sprawling Focus on the Family campus in Colorado Springs, Colo., inside access that is complemented by excellent writing and a mother lode of information. Gilgoff argues that Dobson is a political powerhouse precisely because his constituency was built on dispensing no-nonsense family advice to millions of Americans desperate for help, not on any explicit political platform. When he ventures to make political statements, he commands a public trust few policy makers enjoy. Gilgoff traces the rise of evangelical influence in politics from the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition in the 1970s and 1980s to Focus on the Family in the 1990s and 2000s, walking readers through the backroom power brokering of everything from Roe v. Wade to Harriet Miers's nomination to the Supreme Court. This is a smart piece of investigative journalism. (Mar. 6)