Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America
Spiral-Bound |
Kathleen Belew
★★★★☆+
from 1,001 to 10,000 ratings
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Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America
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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
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Original Binding: Paperback
Pages: 352 pages
ISBN-10: 0674237692
Item Weight: 1.24 lbs
Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.36 x 8.3 inches
Customer Reviews: 4 out of 5 stars 1,001 to 10,000 ratings
A gripping study of white power…It is impossible to read the book without recalling more recent events…The book’s explosive thesis: that the white power movement ...emerged as a radical reaction to the [Vietnam] war…It is a breathtaking argument, one that treats foreign policy as the impetus for a movement that most people view through the lens of domestic racism…It’s a stunning indictment of official culpability, and Belew constructs her case with forensic care. In doing so, she shows that, while racism is ever with us, policy choices ranging from local police strategies to the furthest reaches of foreign policy create the space for white power to flourish. -New York Times
Kathleen Belew spent ten years researching and writing Bring the War Home, examining previously classified FBI files and vivid personal testimonies and letters. She is Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University and has appeared on Fresh Air, Weekend Edition, and CBS News. Her work featured prominently in the PBS Frontline documentary "Documenting Hate: New American Nazis."
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