From the early 1960s until 1980 New York's Conservative and Republican Parties battled on the editorial page, at the ballot box, and in the courts over the ideology of the GOP. New York State and the Rise of Modern Conservatism recounts the story of how New York, reputedly the most liberal of all states, played a critical role in conservatism's political ascendancy and in the redrawing, according to ideology, of the country's party lines. Examining the colorful personalities central to the transformation, including Governor Nelson Rockefeller, William F. Buckley Jr., John Lindsay, Roy Cohn, Jackie Robinson, Clare Booth Luce, G. Gordon Liddy, and William Casey, author Timothy J. Sullivan recounts the details of the party's battle, a battle that ultimately forced the state's liberal Republicans to choose between their party and their ideology, resulting in a reliably conservative national GOP prepared to nominate Ronald Reagan."This book describes a significant moment in New York's political history.

It sheds a great deal of light on the political and ideological history of the last forty years, including the reasons for the decline of Rockefeller Republicanism, the party's subsequent shift to the Right, and the rise of ideological third-party politics." - Vincent J. Cannato, author of The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New YorkTimothy J. Sullivan teaches at Mount Saint Mary's University.