Title: Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America
Author: Kathleen Belew
First published April 9, 2018
352 pages, Hardcover
ISBN: 9780674286078 (ISBN10: 0674286073)
Rating: 4.22
Overview
In this eye-opening book, Kathleen Belew delves into the world of the white power movement in America, revealing its deeply troubling worldview of white supremacy, anticommunism, and apocalyptic faith. Bring the War Home traces the movement’s history from its consolidation in the 1970s and 1980s to its resurgence under President Trump.
Belew uncovers how a small group of veterans and military personnel, feeling betrayed by America’s loss in Vietnam, formed a highly organized movement of loosely affiliated cells comprised of militant groups including Klansmen, neo-Nazis, skinheads, radical tax protestors, and white separatists. The white power movement’s discipline and clarity allowed them to undertake assassinations, armed robbery, counterfeiting, and weapons trafficking.
Belew’s gripping account is based on years of research, including previously classified FBI files and extensive interviews, and is a timely reminder that violence can become a logical course of action when grievances intensify. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the birth of the alt-right and the rise of paramilitarism in America.
About the Author
Meet Kathleen Belew, an Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University who specializes in the history of the present. Her first book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, took ten years to research and write, and was published in 2018 by Harvard (paperback edition in 2019).
In it, she delves into how white power activists created a social movement by unifying various groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and skinheads, using a shared story of betrayal by the government, war, and its weapons, uniforms, and technologies. This movement mobilized and carried out acts of violence that culminated in the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City, and remains a threat to American democracy.
Her next book, Home at the End of the World, examines our era of apocalypse through the lens of her native Colorado, where high-profile kidnappings and murders, right-wing religious ideology, and a mass shooting exposed tears in America’s social fabric, and drastically altered our relationship with place, violence, and politics. The book will be published by Random House.
Belew has spoken about Bring the War Home on various platforms, including The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell, AC 360 with Anderson Cooper, Frontline, Fresh Air, and All Things Considered. Her work has also been featured in documentaries such as Homegrown Hate: The War Among Us (ABC) and Documenting Hate: New American Nazis (Frontline).
Belew has received support from various foundations, including the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Jacob K.
Javits Foundation. She earned her BA in the Comparative History of Ideas from the University of Washington, where she was named Dean’s Medalist in the Humanities, and a doctorate in American Studies from Yale University.
Belew has held postdoctoral fellowships from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, Northwestern University, and Rutgers University. Her award-winning teaching focuses on themes such as history of the present, conservatism, race, gender, violence, identity, and the meaning of war.
Belew is also co-editor of and contributor to A Field Guide to White Supremacy, and has contributed essays to Myth America and The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment.
Editoral Review
In Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, Kathleen Belew takes a deep dive into the history and tactics of the white power movement in the United States. Belew, an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago, provides readers with context around the rise of paramilitary groups and the violent acts they committed during the 1970s and 80s.
The book’s core thesis is that the white power movement was much more organized and pervasive than most people realize, and that the violence perpetrated by these groups was not just the result of isolated incidents carried out by lone wolves. Belew argues that white power groups were actively seeking to incite a race war, and that many of them drew inspiration from the Vietnam War, which they saw as a model for guerrilla warfare tactics.
Belew’s research is impressive, with extensive archival research and interviews with former members of these groups. She is also able to draw clear connections between the white power movement of the past and current events.
For example, she draws parallels between the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the Capitol insurrection in January 2021. The book is divided into two parts, with the first providing background on the history and ideology of the white power movement, and the second delving into specific incidents of violence committed by these groups.
Belew’s writing is clear and precise, allowing readers to follow along with complex historical events and understand the nuances of the ideological underpinnings of these groups. One of the strengths of the book is that it challenges the dominant narrative around domestic terrorism in the United States, which often focuses on Islamic extremism.
Belew argues that white power terrorism should be taken just as seriously, and that there needs to be more attention paid to the ways in which these groups continue to organize and radicalize. However, one weakness of the book is that it can be overly academic at times, with dense sections of historical background that may feel overwhelming to some readers.
Additionally, while Belew touches on the role of law enforcement in perpetuating white power terrorism, she doesn’t explore this topic in as much depth as some readers may want. Overall, Bring the War Home is a well-researched and well-written book that sheds light on an often-overlooked aspect of American history.
It is recommended for readers who are interested in understanding the history of the white power movement, and who want to gain a deeper understanding of the roots of current social and political divisions in the U.S. Based on its research, its insights into current events, and its accessible writing, we would give Bring the War Home four out of five stars.
