List of Figures and Tables vii
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
INTRODUCTION Who Is the Tea Party and What Do They Want? 1
1 Toward a Theory of the Tea Party 20
2 Who Likes Tea? Sources of Support for the Tea Party 66
3 Exploring the Tea Party's Commitment to Freedom and Patriotism 102
4 Does the Tea Party Really Want Their Country Back? 153
5 The Tea Party and Obamaphobia - Is the Hostility Real or Imagined? 190
6 Can You Hear Us Now? Why Republicans Are Listening to the Tea Party 218
CONCLUSION 241
Afterword to the Paperback Edition 261
Appendix 273
Notes 319
Index 365

How the political beliefs of Tea Party supporters are connected to far-right social movements
Are Tea Party supporters merely a group of conservative citizens concerned about government spending? Or are they racists who refuse to accept Barack Obama as their president because he's not white? Change They Can't Believe In offers an alternative argument-that the Tea Party is driven by the reemergence of a reactionary movement in American politics that is fueled by a fear that America has changed for the worse. Providing a range of original evidence and rich portraits of party sympathizers as well as activists, Christopher Parker and Matt Barreto show that the perception that America is in danger directly informs how Tea Party supporters think and act.
In a new afterword, Parker and Barreto reflect on the Tea Party's recent initiatives, including the 2013 government shutdown, and evaluate their prospects for the 2016 election.

Christopher S. Parker is associate professor of political science at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the author of Fighting for Democracy (Princeton). Matt A. Barreto is associate professor of political science at the University of Washington, Seattle, and director of the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Sexuality. He is the author of Ethnic Cues.