A Guardian Best Book of the Year
“A gripping study of white power… Explosive.”
―New York Times
“Helps explain how we got to today’s alt-right.”
―Terry Gross, Fresh Air
The white power movement in America wants a revolution.
Returning to a country ripped apart by a war they felt they were not allowed to win, a small group of Vietnam veterans and disgruntled civilians who shared their virulent anti-communism and potent sense of betrayal concluded that waging war on their own country was justified. The command structure of their covert movement gave women a prominent place. They operated with discipline, made tragic headlines in Waco, Ruby Ridge, and Oklahoma City, and are resurgent under President Trump. Based on a decade of deep immersion in previously classified FBI files and on extensive interviews, Bring the War Home tells the story of American paramilitarism and the birth of the alt-right.
“A much-needed and troubling revelation… The power of Belew’s book comes, in part, from the fact that it reveals a story about white-racist violence that we should all already know.”
―The Nation
“Fascinating… Shows how hatred of the federal government, fears of communism, and racism all combined in white-power ideology and explains why our responses to the movement have long been woefully inadequate.”
―Slate
“Superbly comprehensive…supplants all journalistic accounts of America’s resurgent white supremacism.”
―Pankaj Mishra, The Guardian
Author(s): Kathleen Belew
Edition: First edition
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 330
City: Massachusetts
Tags: White supremacy movements—United States—History. | Paramilitary forces—United States—History. | Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Veterans—United States. | United States—Race relations.
Contents
Note to Readers
Introduction
PART I FORMATION
1
The Vietnam War Story
2
Building the Underground
3
A Unified Movement
4
Mercenaries and Paramilitary Praxis
PART IITHE WAR COMES HOME
5
The Revolutionary Turn
6
Weapons of War
7
Race War and White Women
PART IIIAPOCALYPSE
8
Ruby Ridge, Waco, and Militarized Policing
9
The Bombing of Oklahoma City
Epilogue
Notes
Sources
Acknowledgments
Index