Ride the Tyger

This page-turning "e;oral biography"e; explores the roots of today's far-right American politics from the Depression through McCarthyism.Madison Hadder s smalltown childhood before and after the Great War torments him with an abusive father and numerous family traumas. In the 1930s, Madison becomes a union organizer and supporter of Franklin Roosevelt. Disillusioned, he tumbles down the rabbit hole of arch-conservativism. Becoming a local radio and newspaper personality, Madison first advocates for the Louisiana Democratic populist Huey Long, then turns to the antisemitic radio commentator Father Charles Coughlin and the Nazi-sympathetic American hero Charles Lindbergh. A wealthy industrialist launches him into politics. After World War Two, Madison meets and champions Wisconsin s Red-baiting senator, Joseph McCarthy. His personal life a shambles, Madison suffers a terrible fall, rises, then experiences a final, tragic descent.