This book explores an escalating spiral of tension between the Patriot movement and the state leading up to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The author served as a consultant to Timothy McVeigh's defense team and draws on information based on face-to-face interviews with McVeigh. Wright contends that McVeigh was firmly entrenched in the Patriot movement and was part of a network of 'warrior cells' that planned and carried out the bombing. By examining the Patriot movement's history and subsequent reconfiguration of conflicts with the state, McVeigh's role in the bombing can be more fully understood.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Why did "domestic terrorism" on the scale of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing occur? [Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing] shows how convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh and his co-conspirators rose up from an increasingly militant Patriot social movement that promoted "leaderless resistance" by "phantom cells" in a spiraling "war" with U.S. law enforcement agencies - themselves increasingly militarized through gun raids and the war on drugs. By exploring the deep historical connections of the Patriot movement to Cold-War anti-communism, racist opposition to the Civil Rights movement, the anti-tax movement, the farm crisis, and opposition to gun control, Stuart Wright's gripping and forceful account brings to light the social dynamics of a deeply troubling variant of right-wing political culture that America needs to understand and confront."
John R. Hall, University of California - Davis, Author, Apocalypse Observed
"This book should be read by anyone concerned to understand how terrorism, decidedly unrelated to "Islamo-fascism," has arisen in contemporary America. The portrait of Timothy McVeigh is riveting in its own way, but he is, for better or worse, safely dead. What is most disturbing is the suggestion that the current US armed forces may in effect be serving as a training camp for future McVeigh's who may, for whatever complex of reasons, feel a similar alienation from their government."
Sanford Levinson, University of Texas, Author, Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It)
"The story of the Oklahoma City bombing is one that Stuart Wright is uniquely qualified to tell because of his masterful understanding of the Patriot movement, partly based on personal interviews with Timothy McVeigh. Combining the skills of a historian, a sociologist, and a detective, Wright places this cataclysmic event in the complex context of broad developments since the end of World War II and the specific policies, individual actions, and government responses that led up to the bombing. The result is a remarkably compelling analysis of the fateful social and political dynamics that brought McVeigh and his truckload of explosives to Oklahoma City. This book is an informative, insightful, and gripping study that is at once irresistibly fascinating and deeply disturbing."
Carl Smith, Northwestern University
"Stuart Wright's book provides a fascinating insight into the Christian Patriot movement by centering on the Oklahoma City bombing. Wright draws on many personal interviews to create an account of a spiral of threat and opportunity that is a contribution to the theory of social movements. The book will be of interest to sociologists, political scientists, historians, and all others who study violent social movements."
Clyde Wilcox, Georgetown University
"In our post 9/11 world it is too easy to forget that there is a significant, armed, militant, domestic anti-government movement -- one that is also willing to use terrorist tactics. Wright's book is a useful and intellectually engaging reminder. Wright weaves together a nuanced story of how the anti-communism of the '50s, resistance to the civil rights movements of the '60s, the anti-tax backlash of the '70s, and the farm crisis of the '80s combined with a burgeoning "gun culture" to produce a movement that conceives of itself as at war with its own government in order to save its nation. This movement's ideology has been abetted and facilitated by a federal government that has "declared war" on drugs, crime, and terrorism, militarized the police, and expanded the domestic role of the military. Those interested in the far right, Patriot movement militias, and issues of terrorism in the contemporary world should not miss this book."
Rhys H. Williams, University of Cincinnati, Editor, Cultural Wars in American Politics
John R. Hall, University of California - Davis, Author, Apocalypse Observed
"This book should be read by anyone concerned to understand how terrorism, decidedly unrelated to "Islamo-fascism," has arisen in contemporary America. The portrait of Timothy McVeigh is riveting in its own way, but he is, for better or worse, safely dead. What is most disturbing is the suggestion that the current US armed forces may in effect be serving as a training camp for future McVeigh's who may, for whatever complex of reasons, feel a similar alienation from their government."
Sanford Levinson, University of Texas, Author, Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It)
"The story of the Oklahoma City bombing is one that Stuart Wright is uniquely qualified to tell because of his masterful understanding of the Patriot movement, partly based on personal interviews with Timothy McVeigh. Combining the skills of a historian, a sociologist, and a detective, Wright places this cataclysmic event in the complex context of broad developments since the end of World War II and the specific policies, individual actions, and government responses that led up to the bombing. The result is a remarkably compelling analysis of the fateful social and political dynamics that brought McVeigh and his truckload of explosives to Oklahoma City. This book is an informative, insightful, and gripping study that is at once irresistibly fascinating and deeply disturbing."
Carl Smith, Northwestern University
"Stuart Wright's book provides a fascinating insight into the Christian Patriot movement by centering on the Oklahoma City bombing. Wright draws on many personal interviews to create an account of a spiral of threat and opportunity that is a contribution to the theory of social movements. The book will be of interest to sociologists, political scientists, historians, and all others who study violent social movements."
Clyde Wilcox, Georgetown University
"In our post 9/11 world it is too easy to forget that there is a significant, armed, militant, domestic anti-government movement -- one that is also willing to use terrorist tactics. Wright's book is a useful and intellectually engaging reminder. Wright weaves together a nuanced story of how the anti-communism of the '50s, resistance to the civil rights movements of the '60s, the anti-tax backlash of the '70s, and the farm crisis of the '80s combined with a burgeoning "gun culture" to produce a movement that conceives of itself as at war with its own government in order to save its nation. This movement's ideology has been abetted and facilitated by a federal government that has "declared war" on drugs, crime, and terrorism, militarized the police, and expanded the domestic role of the military. Those interested in the far right, Patriot movement militias, and issues of terrorism in the contemporary world should not miss this book."
Rhys H. Williams, University of Cincinnati, Editor, Cultural Wars in American Politics
Book Description
This book explores an escalating spiral of tension between the Patriot movement and the state leading up to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The author served as a consultant to Timothy McVeigh's defense team and draws on information based on face-to-face interviews with McVeigh.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great culminating read on the OKC bombing,
By
This review is from: Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing (Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics) (Paperback)
After researching and skimming through other books written about the Oklahoma City bombing and Timothy McVeigh, this book by far takes the cake. I started reading the first chapter and before I knew it I was half way into the book! Author does a great job laying out the timeline, facts, and events that lead up to the Oklahoma City bombing- even after the event! Anoter recommendation would be "American Terrorist" by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Page turner,
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This review is from: Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing (Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics) (Hardcover)
In the rush to keep America safe, this book reminds us that the country inadvertently nurtures terrorism amongst 'all-American' types.
Both McVeigh and Nichols never would have fit the profile of a 'suspected terrorist'. This is because they were military veterans without prior arrest records who lived in middle America. But Middle America feels alienated from its government. Come to think of it, they ultimately don't trust the government at all. Coming back after a military service, they were drawn into a gun show underground where restrictions on weapons are conveniently unenforced. The going mantra at such events appears to be "If you want it, there is somebody who is just as willing to sell it to you". And coupled with the presence of equally chilling materials, this ultimately spelled out a recipe for disaster. Serving as a consultant to Timothy McVeigh's defense team, Stuart Wright did not actually come across as somebody championing his client. Rather, I came away with an objective account of the tragedy. I also compared his thoughtful examination against our ongoing public paranoia against 'outsiders' particularly those with certain-sounding names. The former seems like it offers the more reasonable strategy for effectively addressing and then winning the war against terrorism--international AND domestic.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
distortion of history,
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This review is from: Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing (Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics) (Paperback)
Justification of the government version of the facts. It resembles the presentation of the government case at the McVeigh trial. To get the truth, readers are better off with The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror by David Hoffman. If you want to read Hoffman's book, you best get your copy quickly. Hoffman's book is mysteriously going ex library and off the shelves.
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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iterative dance, threat attribution, gun rights groups, contraband raids, gun show circuit, warfare frame, police militarization, innovative collective action, gun rights activists, gun law violations, gun raids, warfare narrative, armed citizen militias, gun rights advocates, federal siege, state disarmament, patriot groups, paramilitary police units, phantom cells, paramilitary policing, political process theory, raid plan, movement entrepreneurs, culpable agents, unorganized militia Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Oklahoma City, Elohim City, United States, Cold War, Ruby Ridge, Posse Comitatus, Birch Society, Branch Davidians, National Guard, New World Order, Aryan Nations, State Department, The Turner Diaries, Murrah Building, Robert Mathews, Southern Poverty Law Center, Randy Weaver, White House, Richard Butler, Department of Defense, Gordon Kahl, New York, Second Amendment, Vicki Weaver, Arizona Patriots New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
iterative dance, threat attribution, gun rights groups, contraband raids, gun show circuit, warfare frame, police militarization, innovative collective action, gun rights activists, gun law violations, gun raids, warfare narrative, armed citizen militias, gun rights advocates, federal siege, state disarmament, patriot groups, paramilitary police units, phantom cells, paramilitary policing, political process theory, raid plan, movement entrepreneurs, culpable agents, unorganized militia Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Oklahoma City, Elohim City, United States, Cold War, Ruby Ridge, Posse Comitatus, Birch Society, Branch Davidians, National Guard, New World Order, Aryan Nations, State Department, The Turner Diaries, Murrah Building, Robert Mathews, Southern Poverty Law Center, Randy Weaver, White House, Richard Butler, Department of Defense, Gordon Kahl, New York, Second Amendment, Vicki Weaver, Arizona Patriots New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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