Bring the War Home is a history of a very small subsection of white supremacy called “the white power movement.” Some people might recognize it as “white nationalism.” That phrase gets us into some confusion because when people think about nationalism, they think about patriotism and actions in support of the state. This movement is not interested in supporting the government.
It’s a group of people who declared war on the federal government in 1983 and attempted to overthrow the government in order to establish a transnational “Aryan nation.” The white power movement includes people like Klansmen, skinheads, neo-Nazis, militia men, radical tax resisters, and a bunch of other people who came together after the Vietnam War, using a widely held belief in government betrayal to gain recruits. The movement is fueled by the idea that racial annihilation is imminent and that therefore everyone should take up arms. I follow that story to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, which despite the fact that it was the largest deliberate mass casualty event on American soil between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 remains a deeply misunderstood event. People still don’t recognize the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing as part of the domestic terror movement. It isn’t included in our common knowledge or our history books.
The book, according to the author