Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat

by Morris Dees

Book Overview

A renowned civil rights lawyer and an award-winning journalist team up to write a controversial, informed, and shocking expose of the far right militia network--and to issue a passionate plea against... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060927895
• ISBN13: 9780060927899
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

scary but insightful

I got this book for a class, one of the authors is a professor at my school, it was very insightful and warns of the dangers of extremism in this country! The KKK has evolved people; not just white sheets but paramilitary.

An excellent book by one who knows

Don't be fooled by those crying "Marxist" or "socialist", etc. in these McCarthy-esque reviews. These are the same "cry wolf" tactics used by Nazis in Europe and by the extreme right here in America in order to discredit those they disagree with. The sheer tenor with which these reviewers express their displeasure should be enough to convince you this book hits the nerve of truth and is worth your read.Get this book for a fascinating look at a behind the scenes history of the modern Militia movement in America, and it's early link with racist and neo-nazi groups. It is true not all militia members adhere to racist ideology today, but throughout it's history, it has been saturated in various degrees with racist thought with an eye on domestic terrorism. The chapters on Lous Beam and his "leaderless cell" strategy are particularly enlightening in lieu of "lone" killers like Buford Furrow, etc.Of additional note are the ways in which these groups attempt to tame their message to appeal to more "mainstream" conservatives, often finding an audience with pro-gun advocates.Read it for a fascinating look into the hidden machinations of the extreme Right wing in America.

Well researched, detailed book about the militia phenomenon.

This is one of the best books I've read about the militia movement. It's extremely well documented and so neatly detailed it can be overwhelming. I was personally appalled by learning about the degree of paranoia displayed by most so-called "patriots" believing seriously deranged and illogical conspiracy theories. The part of the book that interested me most was the one where Dees details the connections between the militia movement and white supremacism and anti-Semitism. Same old hate in a new dress. I would also like to point out that I found most of the reviews in this section to be extremely biased, paranoid and absolutely demeaning. Most of the previous reviews are nothing but rants attacking the person of Morris Dees. I wanted to balance those subjective views by pointing out that Mr. Dees is the person responsible for putting the KKK out of business by legal means, a hero of Human Rights. It's no surprise that most pro-militia readers automatically dislike Dees. As I said before, same old hate in a new dress.

Morris Dees and The Rise of Mental Flatulence

A windbag stalks the land, casting its dessicating shadow over our American heritage of personal freedom. This vessel of gas is Morris Dees, witchfinder general of the American hinterland and proprietor of the Southern "Poverty Palace" Law Center, from which he has reaped millions of dollars in personal profit, (cf. "Poverty Palace," John Egerton, "The Progressive," July, 1988). Dees is in the business of stampeding his vast mailing list into a panic at the spectre of a massive threat to the American people, posed by wicked militiamen who are hiding under every bed. He is not ringing any alarm bells however, over the threat posed by inner city youth gangs who, armed with machine guns provided by our Most Favored Nation trading partner, the dear Chinese Communists, commit an estimated half-million crimes a year. Nor does Dees have much interest in any threat from the Federal government, with its hundreds of thousands of mercenary killers, such as the late CIA director William Colby, who, as station chief in Vietnam from 1962 onward, ordered the assassination of at least 20,000 Vietnamese, as part of "Operation Phoenix." Assassins like Colby, occupying high office, with billion dollar budgets at their disposal, are no threat to liberty, in the eyes of Morris Dees. Now that the forces of liberalism and Zionism have the Federal government firmly in hand (no matter which Republican or Democrat fills the President's shoes), neo-Marxists like Dees are all in favor of it. No, what rankles ol' Morris are those trailer-park Americans hiking in the weeds with their surplus-store rifles, readying themselves for the apocalypse. By golly, there's a "threat" Dees can market to his yuppie mailing list. He opens his book (actually it's only half his, since Mr. Dees is semi-literate and cannot author a book without the collaboration of a factotum), with a melodramatic profile of the main villain of his piece, "the most dangerous," Louis R. Beam Jr. Mr. Beam was charged in 1987 with sedition and placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. He fled to Mexico where pursuing FBI agents told the Mexicans that Beam was a drug trafficker. Beam was seized and his wife assaulted by Mexican troops. Mrs. Beam fired back, wounding one Mexican (Dees erroneously claims that the Mexican was killed). Mrs. Beam was tortured (a fact Dees omits). It was only after her husband informed the Mexicans that he was not a drug dealer, but an opponent of the Federal government, that the Mexicans understood how badly they had been used by the Feds. They subsequently freed Mrs. Beam. Louis Beam was extradited to Arkansas where he was acquitted of all charges in the landmark Federal sedition trial (which was only the third such trial in American history); a trial in which the presiding judge declared the prosecutor's case a disgusting travesty. In Gathering Storm, Dees implies that Beam is the head of the militia in the U.S. This is the tabloid style of prevarication that sells

Extremely detailed!!! Great overview of American militias!

Gathering Storm This book does an excellent job of reflecting american militias! Great for beginners. If you know nothing about militias, this book will turn you into a real genius about them(NO JOKE!)! Before I bought this book, I knew absolutely nothing about militias(I wasn't even sure what militias were). After reading this book, I knew so much about it(friends would tease me about it. They always told people that I was a militia member due to the abundant information I knew about militias). This book is great with explaining everything from beginning up to McVeigh! GREAT BOOK! EXTREMELY DETAILED!!! ILIYA PESIC