Harvest Of Rage: Why Oklahoma City Is Only The Beginning [Hardcover]

Joel Dyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1997

Timothy McVeigh is not alone. The 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City killed 168 innocent people and shattered the complacency of a nation. But this event, horrible as it was, may well be only the beginning of an unprecedented wave of terror in America. This is the chilling conclusion reached by Joel Dyer in Harvest of Rage, the first book to explore the surprisingly deep rural roots of today’s growing and increasingly deadly antigovernment movement.As a reporter who has spent years investigating the personal and social devastation facing rural Americans, Dyer has documented the tragic, lingering aftermath of the 1980s farm crisis that we have all but forgotten. But our shattered heartland is still there, collapsing like a black hole, pulling an entire way of life down with it and distorting rural America’s perceptions of economic and political reality. In its destructive wake, only the question Why? remains.That is a hard question to answer for people who have lived right, invested all they had, and believed that the American dream would come by the sweat of their brows, only to find themselves driven to the wall by impersonal and incomprehensible forces. Some in rural America cannot overcome their deep sense of personal failure. They are ending their lives at a rate that has made suicide overtake accidents as the leading cause of death on America’s farms.But others have discovered an alternative. They are drawn in by the gravitational pull of radical right-wing movements offering support, friendship, and paranoid explanations for Washington’s flawed rural policies and the global economy that has crushed so many. It’s the Jews, they whisper, it’s the United Nations, it’s the Black Helicopters. And most of all, it’s the federal government.Harvest of Rage explains why many otherwise decent people have joined an “alternate America” that seems to defy rational comprehension—until you begin to see the grains of truth that reside in the big lies of the radical antigovernment movement. Dyer shows us the complex arguments that antigovernment proponents use to justify their actions. Based on unprecedented and often intimate interviews with the leaders and the foot soldiers of these groups, his research reveals a complicated and often contradictory amalgam of politically and religiously based forces.Some, like the Republic of Texas, have already “seceded” from the United States and declared war on the U.S. government. Others have set up a secret system of courts, supposedly based in Anglo-Saxon common law, that judges and sentences perceived enemies. Meanwhile, armed militias and independent terrorist cells stand ready to carry out those sentences, including the death penalty.As the year 2000 approaches, many of these groups share a growing millennial fervor, a sense that they are in a state of war with the U.S. government and that an all-out confrontation must take place in the next three years. In this warped world, Oklahoma City truly is just the beginning. And until we come to understand that, until we begin to address the true underlying causes of America’s confrontation with domestic terror, we are doomed to continue to reap what has been sown: a Harvest of Rage. Completely updated with new material on the McVeigh Trial, the defense of Terry Nichols, and the lingering doubt that both were not alone, but assisted by a host of ”unknown others” in the militia movements of rural America.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Dyer (editor, Boulder Weekly) discusses the connection between the farm crisis of the 1980s and the rise of the antigovernment movement of the 1990s. Encouraged by the federal government to plant "fence row to fence row" during the 1970s, small farmers have since witnessed declining markets, falling prices, and the rise of multinational food companies, which brought massive foreclosures and bankruptcies among small farmers during the 1980s. This led to a rise in suicides and murders among individuals faced with the loss of their land. Other farmers turned to racist ideologies and conspiracy theories, seeing the crisis as part of a plot by Jews, international bankers, or the federal government to control the world's food supply. Dyer sees many of these same people as fueling the militia movement, harassing government officials in parts of the West, and threatening continued domestic terrorism similar to the Oklahoma City bombing. The author also blames the government for this situation, citing its lack of support for farmers, cuts in funding of rural mental health programs, and the widening distance between the heartland and Washington. This well-written book updates James Corcoran's Bitter Harvest: Gordon Kahl and the Posse Comitatis; Murder in the Heartland (LJ 4/15/90) and complements such works on the militia movement as Kenneth S. Stern's A Force on the Plain (LJ 1/96) and Richard Abanes's American Militias (Intervarsity, 1996). Recommended for all academic and public libraries.?Stephen L. Hupp, Univ. of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Lib.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A timely offering from investigative journalist Dyer, given Timothy McVeigh's recent sentencing for the Oklahoma City bombing. Dyer argues that the impetus for this terrible crime lies in a rural Middle America that feels disenfranchised, powerless, and enraged. Whereas this anger once manifested itself internally (in physical abuse, alcoholism, suicides), Dyer contends that it is now being expressed outwardly at the federal government. This discontent provides a growing membership for conspiracy-minded, right-wing groups. Yet, as Dyer shows so eloquently, the economic situation of our rural areas is in a terrible state. Small farmers continue to go under, unable to compete in an agricultural system dominated by a relative handful of global corporations. If Dyer is right, don't expect things to improve any time soon. This fine analysis details an American rural culture that is falling apart and may well produce more McVeighs in the near future. Brian McCombie

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813332923
• ISBN-13: 978-0813332925
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,549,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating insights into rural paranoia, May 28, 2001

By 

Julian P Killingley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harvest Of Rage: Why Oklahoma City Is Only The Beginning (Paperback)

Understanding why Timothy McVeigh acted as he did is beyond most people. Similarly, most urban Americans know little of the "Republic of Texas", the militia movements, the "common-law courts" and sundry other manifestations of rural anger and paranoia. To a European like myself it is even more incomprehensible.

I chanced on this book when I was in a bookstore in Champaign, IL and heard the author speaking. I am glad that chance meeting took place as reading this book has given me more understanding of the American rural mind (or at least a portion of it) than anything else that I have read on the subject.

Joel Dyer is the editor of the Boulder Weekly and is a sensitive editor well tuned to all his readers' shades of opinion. It is all too easy for people to dismiss these more extreme beliefs as those belonging to wackos, weirdos and lunatics. Dyer has at least treated adherents of these views with respect and done them the courtesy of listening to them and analyzing the underlying causes of their frustration, resentment and seething anger.

He presents a fairly convincing picture of why those who are tied to agriculture are so paranoid about government in general and the federal government in particular. He explains patiently and convincingly why there is a feeling of desperation. He shows how for many people desperate times call for desperate measures and how these people have sought to rationalize and justify their actions. Dyer is understanding while not approving of the aims or means employed to achieve the ends.

It would be easy to descend into simple mockery and condemnation of extremists. Whilst Dyer concludes that extreme beliefs and actions are wrong headed, his respectful analysis acknowledges the colossal pressures facing these people. He points out the urgent need to do something about their plight. His non-judgmental fact gathering has allowed him access to people whose voices are rarely heard other than through their most strident and extreme mouthpieces.

Dyer concludes that America is sitting on a powder keg. Unless governments heed their rising voices, then we can expect the Oklahoma bombing to be only the first of many large scale outrages designed to force people to pay attention to a neglected section of the community.

The style of this book, as befits an editor, is journalistic. However, Dyer recognizes the value of his research for those with more scholarly interests and there is a susbstantial section of notes and references at the end to allow those interested to further research the issues.

A worthwhile and sobering read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on the WHY of the ultra right, May 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Harvest Of Rage: Why Oklahoma City Is Only The Beginning (Paperback)

The best part of this book is how the author did his research--out in the field knocking on doors and talking to people, the way it should be done. He gets so far inside that one of the guys involved in the Republic of Texas standoff awhile back called him--while the whole thing was going down! That is getting inside to do the story! I'm not sure I totally agree with his thesis of stress being the main reason that the far right is gaining so many adherents, but he certainly backs up his theory with evidence. The author also presents a chilling story on the Oklahoma City Bombing that I guarantee you haven't heard--God knows the jury didn't hear it. Not only did I like this book, I'd certainly consider reading anything else Joel Dyer has written. A good book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grounded research and perspective., October 5, 2000

By 

Jeff M. Chambers "jchambers1" (Lincoln, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harvest Of Rage: Why Oklahoma City Is Only The Beginning (Paperback)

I found Dyer's book to be the most informative and insightful work I've found on the the "milita" movement in rural America. Mr Dyer, in stark contrast to most other work in this area, left most preconcieved biases on the issues out and provides for the reader a detailed and factually grounded work on aspects of the orign, philosophy, and psychology of the rural milita movement. I would recommend this work for those wanting to come to a better understanding of this phenomena in Ameirca.