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The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right
 
 
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The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right [Paperback]

Daniel Levitas (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 20, 2004 0312320418 978-0312320416 First Edition, November 2002
September 11, 2001, focused America's attention on the terrorist threat from abroad, but as the World Trade Center towers collapsed, domestic right-wing hate groups were celebrating in the United States. "Hallelu-Yahweh! May the WAR be started! DEATH to His enemies, may the World Trade Center BURN TO THE GROUND!" announced August Kreis of the paramilitary group, the Posse Comitatus. "We can blame no others than ourselves for our problems due to the fact that we allow ...Satan's children, called jews (sic) today, to have dominion over our lives."

The Terrorist Next Door reveals the men behind far right groups like the Posse Comitatus - Latin for "power of the county" -- and the ideas that inspired their attempts to bring about a racist revolution in the United States.

Timothy McVeigh was executed for killing 168 people when he bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, but The Terrorist Next Door goes well beyond the destruction in Oklahoma City and takes readers deeper and more broadly inside the Posse and other groups that comprise the paramilitary right. From the emergence of white supremacist groups following the Civil War, through the segregationist violence of the civil rights era, the right-wing tax protest movement of the 1970s, the farm crisis of the 1980s and the militia movement of the 1990s, the book details the roots of the radical right. It also tells the story of men like William Potter Gale, a retired Army officer and the founder of the Posse Comitatus whose hate-filled sermons and calls to armed insurrection have fueled generations of tax protesters, militiamen and other anti-government zealots since the 1960s.

Written by Daniel Levitas, a national expert on the origins and activities of white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, The Terrorist Next Door is painstakingly researched and includes rich detail from official documents (including the FBI), private archives and confidential sources never before disclosed. In detailing these and other developments, The Terrorist Next Door will prove to be the most definitive history of the roots of the American militia movement and the rural radical right ever written.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The militia movement burst into the consciousness of Americans with the Oklahoma City bombing, but hate groups have a long, shameful lineage in America. In this detailed, provocative examination, Levitas focuses on the ideas of William Potter Gale, who, despite Jewish roots, became one of the progenitors of contemporary hate ("If a Jew comes near you, run a sword through him," he told radio listeners in 1982). Gale adapted the idea of the Posse Comitatus, based on a little-known 19th-century law, to spread his notion of the need for citizen militias to defend whites. But, as Levitas, an expert on the radical right, shows, Gale is just one in a long line of racists who have used American ideas and language (such as freedom, rights and private property) to disseminate their message, which often finds a home with the alienated, sparked by specific events such as the shootouts at Ruby Ridge and Waco in the 1990s. Perhaps most disturbingly, Levitas makes a strong argument that these groups have a broad-based "weak sympathy" in numbers that far exceed their small active membership. He also shows how state and local governments have been reluctant to act against these groups, either out of sympathy or in an effort to keep the spotlight away from them. But as Levitas emphasizes, Oklahoma City and the hate groups' cheering for the September 11 attacks demonstrate that these groups will be ignored at our peril. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

With so much attention focused on international terrorism, this book hits closer to home with an eye-opening look at potential domestic terrorist threats. Levitas explores the historic roots of Far Right hate groups in the U.S., how they have developed and evolved, and how the government has responded or failed to respond to this potent threat from within. Levitas traces the virulent racial hatred of these groups to similar sentiments in Europe during the Middle Ages; through U.S. slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction; during World War II; and through desegregation and the civil rights movement. He also traces the metamorphosis of various groups, including the Citizens' Council, Ku Klux Klan, and John Birch Society, detailing their bizarre theories of racial superiority and escalating violence. Levitas notes the groups' efforts to broaden their appeal beyond racism by promoting tax protests, resistance to gun control, and discontent about government intrusion, and the troubling political trends that have lent support to antigovernment militia groups since the 1960s. This is a well-researched, disturbing look at domestic terrorism. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 544 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition, November 2002 edition (January 20, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312320418
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312320416
  • Product Dimensions: 0.9 x 0.6 x 0.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #833,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Slanderous propaganda February 7, 2011
Format:Paperback
To the ignorant, this author may seem credible. To those of us who understand the resistance to expansion of government, the 80's farm crisis, oppressive taxation, the murder of Gordon Kahl, violation of our Constitutional liberties, etc., know Levitas is promoting the lie which would have you believe any American, especially those white ones who are opposed to tyranny, are comprised of Nazis. Research this author before you read his book. You might be surprised about his history. Then again, maybe not.
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34 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This entire book (any most like it) is based on lies and stereotypes. I am a member of a citizens militia. I am not a right winger or a terrorist. The author of this book is spreading fear and hoping to profit from it.

Sure, many in militias are right leaning Republicans but not all. I am a Socialist and a self confessed hippie. My idea of a great leader is Hugo Chavez. So you can see I am nothing like the crazies this author is trying to scare you with.

Anyone who has seen the loss of freedoms and the rise of fear that has resulted from eight years of Bush knows that the government, no matter who is in office, is not on your side. In fact, with the Patriot Act Two it is in every citizens best interest to do two things. Question your government and learn how to defend yourself and family from enemies both foreign and domestic. That is what a militia is about. Militia members care about the constitution and they care about ensuring their freedom.
It is not paranoia to be prepared for defense and survival. Look around the world and realize how fast a nation can go from normal to fascist, or at peace with it's citizens to genocide. If you aren't ready to defend your country and your family then go ahead, live in fear. But rest assured it isn't your local militia you have to fear.

The Terrorist Next Door and other books like it are written by people with an agenda. If you don't fit into their idea of acceptable then they want you to be labeled, feared and punished without so much as a chance to defend your point of view. Now ask yourself, doesn't that sound like a terrorism?
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
So full of lies, generalities, propaganda and fear mongering that I'm sure this will be a must read while detained in your local FEMA camp. For your own protection of course.
The enemy next door can easy be found... just look to the DHS, TSA and the new "praetorian" class (militarized police forces). The biggest terrorist is our own out of control government empire.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Morph into Patriots
It's amazing how so-called "terrorists" are later on considered "Patriots" when it is discovered they are fighting for the US Constitution and true FREEDOM. Read more
Published 7 months ago by SurvivalTopics
Interesting Albeit Slightly Boring
Daniel Levitas took a truly scholarly approach to the topic of white militia movements in America. He has sources that I've never seen cited before, and in every sense of the word... Read more
Published on May 8, 2008 by S. Wyllie
nothing stirs up hate like calling people nazis
authors should find real jobs instead of creating witchhunt after witchhunt looking for those evil militia people who want to blow up the world. Read more
Published on June 7, 2006 by Live Free
Terrorists inside the borders -- very good longitudinal view of the...
First, ignore the one right-wing agitator review as deliberately contrarian. Second, take with a big cynical grain of salt the other two-star reviewer, who claims this subject's... Read more
Published on February 10, 2006 by S. J. Snyder
Excellent Historical look at the evolution of domestic terrorism
Levitas does a thorough job of looking at the historical developments of domestic terrorism in regards to anti-semitic and racial hatred. Read more
Published on September 25, 2005 by G. Todd Brimm
Important work with a misleading title
While the book deals wth a timely topic, it is marred by a couple glaring faults. First, the title completely misleads the reader into thinking it is going to discuss the... Read more
Published on May 17, 2005 by James V. Holton
A very thorough depiction of the militia movement, but...
The Terrorist Next Door is an invaluable resource for people who have been previously exposed to information about the militia movement. Read more
Published on June 22, 2004
An accurate look at some of your scary neighbors
I have already read this book, but I'm ordering my own copy now for research purposes. It is the most comprehensive, and well written book on the subject of the extreme right that... Read more
Published on October 23, 2003
Another try to link 1000 different things and demonize all.
Examine the review by "dixiedivine", which shows a much surer understanding than the author of this book ever will that "hate" derives and grows from genuine issues. Read more
Published on January 10, 2003 by Edith Swanek
Not much new, writing about a failed movement.
Levitas' book is well written and documented but it doesn't contain much that is new. I've been reading about the radical right for almost 20 years now and there were no surprises... Read more
Published on December 7, 2002 by "liz517517"
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
The raspy voice of "Reverend" William Potter Gale's tape-recorded sermon filled the airwaves over western Kansas on a summer night in July 1982. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bill Gale, United States, Christian Identity, Birch Society, Federal Reserve, Oklahoma City, New York, North Dakota, Gordon Kahl, Committee of the States, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Aryan Nations, Mike Beach, Mike Ryan, National Guard, South Carolina, Second Amendment, Alvin Jenkins, Grass Roots, Ministry of Christ Church, Wesley Swift, Blue Book, Jim Wickstrom, Rick Elliott
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