Millennium Rage: Survivalists, White Supremacists, and the Doomsday Prophecy - Softcover

Lamy, P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306454092 ISBN 13: 9780306454097

Publisher: Springer, 1996

Synopsis

As the millennium approaches, apocalyptic fervor is sweeping the nation. Militias, white supremacists, survivalists, and cults have seized upon the Book of Revelation to trumpet their own fractured version of the end of the world. Millennium Rage is the only book that connects the strands of these fringe groups to a tradition that has underpinnings in American culture and mainstream religion. It moreover shows that many of these groups have stolen and twisted apocalyptic religious symbols to fit their own end: gearing up for Armageddon in this world, not the next. The Oklahoma bombers, the Sons of Gestapo, the Branch Davidians, and the Unabomber are, as Philip Lamy astutely demonstrates, extreme examples of burgeoning strains within society. "Ruby Ridge" and "Waco" have become rallying cries of a growing number of average Americans who feel disenfranchised and forgotten. Members of militia movements and white supremacists, whom Lamy interviewed for this book, have tapped into their reservoir of discontent and are channeling it for their own aims. As Lamy points out, rugged individualists and utopian groups have always dotted the American landscape. What is alarming, however, is the misuse of the Christian apocalypse to promote a religion that fans the flames of hate, preaching the destruction of minorities - including Jews, blacks, and immigrants - in a whirlwind showdown. Lamy asserts that this new religion, "Christian Identity," serves as a unifying factor among an array of extremist groups who call for a battle here on earth against Satan's supposed forces - minorities allegedly bent on a worldwide conspiracy to rule the world. Distorting the Bible and other literature through a prism of hate and fear, they have made some inroads into the consciousness of America, according to Lamy.

About this title

From the Back Cover

As the millennium approaches, apocalyptic fervor is sweeping the nation. Militias, white supremacists, survivalists, and cults have seized upon the Book of Revelation to trumpet their own fractured version of the end of the world. Millennium Rage is the only book that connects the strands of these fringe groups to a tradition that has underpinnings in American culture and mainstream religion. It moreover shows that many of these groups have stolen and twisted apocalyptic religious symbols to fit their own end: gearing up for Armageddon in this world, not the next. The Oklahoma bombers, the Sons of Gestapo, the Branch Davidians, and the Unabomber are, as Philip Lamy astutely demonstrates, extreme examples of burgeoning strains within society. "Ruby Ridge" and "Waco" have become rallying cries of a growing number of average Americans who feel disenfranchised and forgotten. Members of militia movements and white supremacists, whom Lamy interviewed for this book, have tapped into their reservoir of discontent and are channeling it for their own aims. As Lamy points out, rugged individualists and utopian groups have always dotted the American landscape. What is alarming, however, is the misuse of the Christian apocalypse to promote a religion that fans the flames of hate, preaching the destruction of minorities - including Jews, blacks, and immigrants - in a whirlwind showdown. Lamy asserts that this new religion, "Christian Identity", serves as a unifying factor among an array of extremist groups who call for a battle here on earth against Satan's supposed forces - minorities allegedly bent on a worldwide conspiracy to rule the world. Distorting the Bible and other literature through aprism of hate and fear, they have made some inroads into the consciousness of America, according to Lamy. When a leading presidential candidate feels comfortable proclaiming he'll destroy "the New World Order" - a code word for the supposed minority-led, worldwide conspiracy - it cannot be a moment too soon to learn the truth about the covert symbols, spreading zealotry, and deadly machinations of the armies of millennium rage.

Reviews

As the world rushes toward the year 2000, millennialism?the belief that human history is near its end?is on the rise. In this far-reaching, well-considered work, Lamy, a sociology professor at Castleton College in Vermont, shines a floodlight on white supremacists, far-right paramilitias, apocalyptic cults, antigovernment zealots and other extremists who embrace millennialism and who, he cautions, are a growing danger to American society through their belief that the proper response to the coming apocalypse is "survivalism" through preparation for battle against the forces of evil. Through interviews with dozens of survivalists, he delves into Christian Identity, a quasi-religious movement preaching racism, anti-Semitism and antigovernment militancy, that provides a unifying theology for the Aryan Nations, the Ku Klux Klan, the Montana Freemean, skinheads and neo-Nazis. Lamy digs deeply into the roots of millennialism, tracing its evolution throughout the Christian era and exploring how latter-day survivalists misappropriate and pervert ancient Christian and Hebrew apocalyptic doctrines. He traces survivalist influence on media, through an insightful discussion of Soldier of Fortune magazine and the phenomenon of war games. Finally, he widens his focus to place extremist survivalism within a broad spectrum of millennialism that encompasses Mormonism, Zionism, Rastafarianism and Christian fundamentalism. "The flames of the millennial rage," Lamy concludes, "are fanned by widespread, fast-moving social and cultural changes." Given that the pace of these changes is only increasing, most readers will likely conclude, as Lamy does in this perceptive work, that even though the year 2000 will roll by, millennialism and its attendant dangers may be with us for a long time to come.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Readers whose limited familiarity with the Book of Revelations leaves them puzzled by the biblical rhetoric of movements such as the Branch Davidians, survivalists, and the hate-mongering Christian Identity Church will appreciate Lamy's overview of the ways a wide range of apocalyptic Americans use the prophecies in this final book of the New Testament to justify their beliefs and behavior. Lamy teaches sociology and anthropology at Castleton State College in Vermont and has studied both "pop apocalypticism" and the doomsday visions of white supremacists and survivalists since the '80s. Here he traces both religious and secular manifestations of the millennium myth, from messianic cults to survivalists, militias, and New Age activism. He examines "primary elements of the myth, such as tribulation, Babylon, Armageddon, the Messiah, and millennium," and traces how specific groups adapt and manipulate those symbols to support their understanding of a changing world and to organize others in support of their vision of the future. Enlightening and disturbing. Mary Carroll

Lamy (sociology, Castleton State) goes beyond the current Armageddon/race-war/survivalist mania to examine in depth almost every perennial eruption of the weed of doomsday prophecy (rooted in the soil of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and particularly John of Patmos's Book of Revelation) throughout Occidental history. Lamy's subjects include the followers of Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus; the Phrygian Montanus and his numerous but eventually excommunicated disciples; the Anglo-Israelite Movement; the Millerites (now Jehovah's Witnesses); and the English Puritans. However, the bulk of the work explores the contemporary Neo-Nazi, skinhead, survivalist, and white supremacist movements. Some minor reservations notwithstanding, e.g., Lamy presents his studies of past Armageddon preparations in no special chronological order and misrepresents Ridley Scott's film The Blade Runner, this unquestionably well-wrought, engaging, and scrupulously documented work, both perceptive and detailed, belongs on the shelves of most public and academic libraries.?Bill Piekarski, Southwestern Coll. Lib., Chula Vista, Cal.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306454092
• ISBN 13: 9780306454097
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306