What can you tell me about Barry Goldwater and his influence on Republican politics?

So I’m writing an essay for my 20th century American history class where I have to choose two “movements” of the 60’s and compare them and pontificate on their greater historical contexts and implications, and all that jazz. I didn’t feel like writing about the typical movements from the 60’s that you usually hear about (hippies, Civil Rights activists, Black Panthers, etc.), so I decided to write about Barry Goldwater Republicans and the Weather Underground. I haven’t gotten to the Weathermen in my essay, yet, so we won’t worry about them for the time being. I am, however, looking for decent information about Barry Goldwater. Basically, I’m arguing that Goldwater’s popularity permanently influenced Republican, and more specifically, right-wing politics (well, at least the libertarian element) and that his campaign was more or less a backlash to 60’s big government liberalism.

The problem here, is that I am having a hard time quantifying the organizational structure, goals of, and obstacles the “Goldwater Movement” faced. I am also having a hell of a time finding sources. The wikipedia articles about Goldwater and the ‘64 Republican National Convention are not surprisingly almost devoid of useful citations or footnotes. My school library also conveniently lacks anything about Barry whatsoever.

So anyhoo, there are probably a lot of Flutherites who are older than I who lived through the ‘64 election and can tell me all about Goldwater or the left vs. right context of the era, or the breaking away of the small government libertarians from the fragmenting Republicans, and so on. Also, if you know of any decent sources or places to find them, I’d love to see them.

Caveat: I am not asking you to do my homework or research for me. I am asking for intelligent discussions about my topic to inspire me, as well assistance in answering my questions in bold and possibly finding research resources. oh yeah, and if you have anything useful to say about the Weathermen, that really wouldn’t hurt either.

Thanks in advance, my lovelies.