Bring the War Home

Kathleen Belew is an American tenured associate professor of history at Northwestern University, and an international authority on the white-power movement.^[1][2] Belew argues in the book that the modern white power movement emerged from the loss of the Vietnam War.^[3] The book discusses the Oklahoma City bombing, Ruby Ridge, the Waco siege^[4] and the Greensboro massacre.^[5] Belew points out that it was during the conservative presidency of Ronald Reagan that the white power movement began to truly coalesce.^[6] She also observes that Louis Beam was one of the earliest proponents of white power and the concept of a leaderless resistance.^[7] The book rejects the idea that white supremacist violence is only done by lone wolves.^[8] Although the book was written before the Unite the Right rally,^[9] it provides a history of the movements that lead to the rally.^[10][11] Belew traces William Luther Pierce and his 1978 novel The Turner Diaries to the rise of white supremacists.^[12] Chapter seven presents evidence to support the involvement of women in white supremacist groups like the Aryan Nations.^[13] The book also discusses the history of the Ku Klux Klan.^[14]

Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook wrote in Library Journal that "this necessary work reminds readers that white violence—on behalf of, and against, the state—has a long and deep history."^[4] Patrick Blanchfield wrote in The Nation that the book is "Meticulously researched and powerfully argued."^[15] Amy Cooter criticized the book in Reason for characterizing the militia movement as an outgrowth of the white power movement.^[16] The book was included in The Guardian's list of the best books of 2018.^[17]