Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America
Kathleen Belew
Apr 2018 · Harvard University Press
3.3star
6 reviewsreport
Ebook
352
Pages
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
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
“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
Ratings and reviews
3.3
6 reviews
Robert A Wright
- Flag inappropriate
January 30, 2019
Informative and well written account of white power mentality and actions. It will always be a part of our society and culture due to underlying fears and insecurities.
2 people found this review helpful
IG Music
- Flag inappropriate
March 12, 2021
Why does all this informatiom you lay out sound similiar to the tactics of blm and black panther movement? Is it because their philosphy is that activism can no longer be passive and requires immidiate and strong response? Strange how all extemism looks similiar.
Paul “PapaC” Cordero
- Flag inappropriate
January 4, 2022
An excellent historical perspective of far right wing extremism.
About the author
Kathleen Belew is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Chicago. She unearthed the lives of her white power militant subjects in previously classified FBI documents, newspapers published from Nicaragua to New York, and vivid testimony, writings, and illustrations. Tracking the path of violence from the aftermath of war to paramilitarism through thousands of pages of documents and more than a decade of research and writing, her work provides an insight and authority rarely seen in such accounts.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
