Customer Reviews

Armed and Dangerous: The Rise of the Survivalist Right

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I can't believe I'm the first one to review this book! I've read a lot of books about the far right, and this is by far the best one. What I like best is that Coates quotes many obscure titles and gives detailed information about them in the bibliography. This gives the reader a nice list of books and tracts for further reading. The author also gives the reader a separate section on Christian Identity and he names names. The book ends with a remarkable account of the alternate view of history that those on the right take, beginning with the Illuminati and bringing in the Trilateral Commission and the Council of Foreign Relations. This section alone is worth the price of the book, which Amazon has at a really low price. Get it and read it!

This book does give quite a bit of insight and data about the survivalist-style movement that has blossomed over the past few decades. Strange and often violent, many of these groups are detailed by the author. My biggest problems with the book are: 1) the author allows his leftist leanings to shine through at various points, particularly at the end. He attacks conservatives, he tarnishes Christians who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and even (incredibly) attacks those Christians who support Israel. This last item is particularly bizarre because many of the survivalist groups listed in the book are anti-Israel (to say the least), and the author belittles the groups because of it. 2) the author tries to lump in serial killers like Ng and Lake into the far-Right survivalist movement. There is enough material floating about concerning far-Right survivalist groups that tossing in serial murderers isn't necessary.