Synopsis
Outlines the history of radicalism in rural America from colonial times to the present day
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Review
A historian at Connecticut College, Stock identifies a long-standing strain of extremist rage in the rural heartland of America which informs the current right-wing militia groups, the survivalists, and the Christian Identity zealots. She suggests that ignorance and denial of this cultural are what made the Oklahoma bombing such a shock. She cites examples like Nathaniel Bacon's rebel group in colonial days, and the uprising led by Daniel Shays in Pennsylvania in George Washington's time, as exemplars of hatred of federal authority and federal taxes, and of an ugly rural cultural isolationism. In time, fed by economic insecurity, gun craziness, and crude machismo, this would manifest itself in hatred of Indians, blacks, Mormons, Mexicans, and Asians--an enduring contradiction of American idealism.
From the Publisher
This is an important book, which gives historical perspective on a topic that will only gain attention in the coming months. Catherine McNicol Stock is Associate Professor of History and Director of the American Studies Program at Connecticut College. An alternate selection of the History Book Club. She is the author of Main Street in Crisis: The Great Depression and the Old Middle Class on the Northern Plains.
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