Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America by Kathleen Belew

4 reviews

pmhandley's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.5

Definitely informative and sheds some light on how deep the white power movement runs as well as our failures to take it seriously or understand how widespread it is. The writing can be a little dry and I found myself going back a lot because there are a lot of people mentioned and it was a bit difficult for me to keep track of them all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, and War

Minor: Abortion

amsswim's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

This book was very informative, while I knew some of the information I still learned a lot. I feel like I have consumed a lot of media about how white supremacy groups manifested pre-Civil Rights and during Civil Rights eras, there is less on 1970s on, could just be what I read however. This book reveals some of why that is.  I wish there was another section dedicated to events mentioned in the epilogue in the 21st century, but the book does wrap up at the end of the 20th century. Little slow and repetitive at times but all around good.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

stevia333k's review against another edition

informative tense

4.75

So youtubers have already covered this book. It's helpful for covering various memes in white supremacist patriarchal capitalist media.

I also want to mention there are books about anti-blackness that can make some of the points more concisely (like Carol Anderson in "The Second" pointed out how during pogroms against black neighborhoods local police were more likely to act like disarming black people would make the pogromers calm down when instead it only accelerated the pogrom. There's also how the enthusiastic militias but reluctant army showed how white supremacists were enthusiastic about killing black people.)

Basically I figured out recently that I was being groomed by nazis & Reaganites for what is currently the majority of my life.

I had looked up clips of the Denver DJ that got assassinated the uploaded clips were mainly being covered & commented on by nazis. So I feel like the book swallows Nazi boot in the name of descriptivism at times. 

I'm impressed by how the book made points like how childcare & first aid was handled, how it challenged racist media narratives of terrorists being "alone in the woods" by asking things like how did these people get fed etc. It's also cool how the book explained to me (someone born after the 1980's) that there was a false calm from the white nationalist churches being defunded because apparently churches had the role the internet has now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, and War

booksandcatsgalore's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

3.5

This book is informative and appears to be well researched and sourced. One of the challenges is keeping all the people straight. There are so many people, and so many white power organizations, many with very similar names (KKK, KKKK, CKKKK, etc) that it becomes almost impossible to remember who is who. Part of the premise of her book is that these supposedly distinct groups are much more intertwined than the public or law enforcement realizes because people often move between groups, create spin off groups, or marriage between members of different groups. I will have to take her word for it since it was impossible to follow. Also, this book was published in 2018 but basically ends with the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing in 1995. There is an epilogue that makes a brief general reference to the Trump campaign and the increase in hate crimes since 2016. Leaving off the story in 1995 doesn't really make sense.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Antisemitism