Ali H. Soufan
Gods, Guns, and Sedition offers a timely and comprehensive assessment of the evolution of far-right extremism in the United States. Hoffman and Ware identify and analyze the most important trends affecting the far right, uncovering a phenomenon with deep roots, poised to remain a major threat to the security of the country.
Lawrence Wright
Hoffman and Ware have produced a revealing history of America’s almost uninterrupted experience with domestic terrorism, from the Ku Klux Klan to the January 6 assault on the Capitol. This is an essential volume for understanding the dark side of the American dream and comes with an urgent call to reverse the drift toward violence and disunity.
Peter Bergen
Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware have delivered a crisply written and deeply researched account of the history of far-right terrorism in the United States that will be of great interest both to specialists and general readers.
Cynthia Miller-Idriss
Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware rightly situate contemporary far-right growth within its long historical context while deftly analyzing today’s unique challenges. A vital addition to the global understanding of supremacist terror and what we might do to turn the tide, and indispensable reading for anyone seeking to understand what is demonstrably the most pressing threat to democracy and social cohesion.
Steven Simon
At a pivotal moment in American history, Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware have given Americans of all stripes a vital guide to the dangers pervading our politics and especially the risk of internecine violence. Few if any other scholars could approach this freighted topic with the historical perspective, disciplinary breadth, and methodological rigor as do Hoffman and Ware. Their writing, moreover, is brisk and stylish, all the better to reach the wide audience this urgently needed book deserves.
Kirkus Reviews
2023-10-21
A timely study of domestic terrorism.
Hoffman and Ware, both fellows at the Council on Foreign Relations, maintain that today’s far-right extremists have been gathering momentum since the 1970s. They began work on this book during the height of the pandemic, when “the vilification of Jews, Asians, persons of color, and immigrants, among others, was reaching unprecedented levels.” They deliver a vivid academic history that gives violent events more space than ideas, so readers should expect pages of murderous action and quotes from their perpetrators and supporters. Outraged by opposition to the Vietnam War and the success of the civil rights movement, groups of white racists became convinced that the U.S. government was hopelessly corrupt and dominated by non-whites, leftists, and immigrants, and they believed it had to be destroyed in order to create a new society. With names such as the Aryan Nation and the National Alliance, they gathered weapons and trained, issued manifestos, and occasionally engaged in armed robberies and standoffs with law enforcement. Initially incompetent in dealing with frank violence, the FBI and ATF improved, and by the 1990s, quasi-military organizations had largely vanished in favor of individual lone actors, including Timothy McVeigh. Although far-right extremists were distracted by foreign terrorists after 9/11, the election of America’s first Black president galvanized the fringe, who were further weaponized by social media—and later enraptured by Donald Trump’s surprise victory in 2016. Mass murderers now operate almost weekly, with ideologues perhaps outnumbered by the mentally ill. The authors clearly show how far-right rhetoric has entered the mainstream and how hatred of “government,” worship of firearms, and fear of immigrants win at the polls. Voters in nations around the world have elected autocrats and seen their democracies wither. Readers may wonder if that’s also in the cards for America.
A deeply disheartening look at American terrorism.
