American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism

by Arie Perliger

Overview

In an unsettling time in American history, the outbreak of right-wing violence is among the most disturbing developments. In recent years, attacks originating from the far right of American politics have targeted religious and ethnic minorities, with a series of antigovernment militants, religious extremists, and lone-wolf mass shooters inspired by right-wing ideologies. The need to understand the nature and danger of far-right violence is greater than ever.

In American Zealots, Arie Perliger provides a wide-ranging and rigorously researched overview of right-wing domestic terrorism. He analyzes its historical roots, characteristics, tactics, rhetoric, and organization, assessing the current and future trajectory of the use of violence by the far right. Perliger draws on a comprehensive dataset of more than 5,000 attacks and their perpetrators from 1990 through 2017 in order to explore key trends in American right-wing terrorism. He describes the entire ideological spectrum of the American far right, including today’s white supremacists, antigovernment groups, and antiabortion fundamentalists, as well as the histories of the KKK, skinheads, and neo-Nazis. Based on these findings, Perliger suggests counterterrorism policies that can respond effectively to the far-right threat. A groundbreaking examination of violence spawned from right-wing ideologies, American Zealots is essential reading for everyone seeking to understand the transformation of domestic terrorism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231167116
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	08/18/2020
Series:	Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Arie Perliger is professor and director of the graduate program in security studies at the School of Criminology and Justice Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. His many publications on political violence include Jewish Terrorism in Israel (Columbia, 2009).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. The Challenges of Comprehending and Responding to Domestic Terrorism
2. An Ideological Typology of the Violent Far Right
3. Historical Pillars of the Violent American Far Right
4. Tactics of the American Far Right
5.The Rise and Decline of Far-Right Violence in the United States
6. Perpetrators of Far-Right Violence
7. Contemporary Discourse of the American Far Right
8. The Future of the Violent American Far Right
Appendix: Methodology and Statistical Results
Notes
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

At a time when both DHS and the FBI have underlined the threat posed from the radical right, Arie Perliger’s American Zealots is a comprehensive and comparative study of right-wing terrorism that sheds light on how the movement emerged, grew within the US military, and our society to become the center of current domestic political debates. Using original data that he collected, the book is anchored in rigorous empirical evidence to explain how we got here and identify the path forward.

Mia Bloom

American Zealots is an immensely timely and important publication. Written by one of this country's foremost authorities on far-right extremist violence, it provides a comprehensive analysis of this movement's evolution and trajectory and its implications for American society and politics.

Bruce Hoffman

This arresting book explores the backgrounds of right-wing activists who have terrorized America’s heartland from Oak Creek, Wisconsin to El Paso, Texas in recent decades. Far from being lone wolves, they are supported by a vast community of hatred, this revealing study shows. It descends into America’s underground cultures of violence and helps the reader understand the motivations and organizations of what has become America’s number one terrorist threat. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the widening chasms of political extremism in the United States.

Mark Juergensmeyer

With unparalleled expertise, Arie Perliger makes sense of the complicated and contentious reality of domestic right-wing terrorism. His explanation of the complexities, deep historical roots, and ideological diversity of the threat is clear and dispassionate. His conclusions are all the more important for being bluntly realistic: there is unlikely to be a decline in right-wing violence unless we devise a wide-ranging public policy response.

Martha Crenshaw

2020-04-29
A scholarly exploration, bolstered by some original number crunching, of how the American far right gained a toehold in the mainstream.

The election of a full-throated xenophobe to the presidency, paired with news stories about the rise of the “alt-right,” have given the impression that violence from separatist groups in the U.S. is increasing. While that is true, notes Perliger, a professor who studies extremism and criminology, America’s history has long been littered with racist and separatist groups whose ranks swell or contract depending on the national political mood. A quick history lesson shows that groups like the Ku Klux Klan tended to garner more followers as more inclusive leaders and laws were enacted, and nativist groups have been emboldened by law enforcement debacles like Waco and Ruby Ridge. Horrifying events like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing are rare in part because extremist groups resist the kind of collaboration that produces large-scale terrorist acts, Perliger writes. However, his study of databases cataloging far-right violence shows that the small-scale acts have increased since the turn of the century, particularly against racial minorities and LGBTQ+ people. They’re getting deadlier as well: Since 2007, the number of casualties and injuries due to far-right violence has been on the upswing, as has the number of casualties per incident. As an academic, the author covers this difficult territory from a certain remove; aside from chapter openings that depict the actions of the likes of Timothy McVeigh, he lets the data do the work. But Perliger is impassioned and cleareyed about how troubling the trends are, voicing concern that far-right ideology has infected mainstream politics, which in turn risks emboldening a new generation of radicals. He also seeks to challenge outmoded thinking that racists and other radicals are Deep South products. The risk is wherever disillusionment and misinformation can take hold.

A plainspoken and data-driven yet essential book for understanding the underpinnings of today’s domestic terrorists.

Kirkus Reviews

A refreshing and valuable perspective...American Zealots provides a valuable contribution to the growing literature of the contemporary far-right in the United States.

Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Book Reviews - Matthew Valasik

An exceptional read into the domestic terrorist threat....for anyone interested in reading into domestic terrorism, its cultural impact, and the potential for continued acts of violence the book is highly recommended.

Populism

This book illuminates the threat of the far-right in an accessible, non-jargony way and Perliger’s introduction to the topic may encourage readers to become more informed about some of the complexities and nuances of the far-right...a multifaceted analysis.

Critical Studies on Terrorism - Samantha Kutner

Offers a useful ideological typology of the American far right.

Survival