Modern American Extremism and Domestic Terrorism

Highlighting a breadth of American individuals and groups that engaged in extremist behavior across history this book provides a succinct concise overview of extremist behavior in the past and examines today''s increasingly common incidences of hate and extremism.Since the election of Barack Obama in 2008 extremist and hate groups have seen a resurgence on the American political landscape. Members of these subgroups within the American population have become concerned that the America that they have always known is fading into oblivion with a majority of individuals in these groups holding fiercely anti-immigration views and adhering to the belief that the United States should not admit large numbers of any group that is not white Christian or predominantly European. Others believe that the principles and precepts of the U.S. Constitution have gone by the wayside and that drastic measures are required to protect the underlying tenets that were the essential elements of the Constitution and many of their nation''s founding principles. How did these individuals come to feel this way is it possible to bring these impassioned extremists back into the fold and if so how?This book provides comprehensive illuminating and sometimes disturbing insights into the individuals groups and events that have illustrated extremist behavior in post-World War II America. Ranging from the anti-communist rhetoric and activities of the John Birch Society to the radical socialist ideals of the Black Panthers to the goals of a pure America articulated by white nationalists this book documents the various extremist elements that shaped the second half of the 20th century as well as the first two decades of the 21st century. Readers will grasp how events in the histories of individuals and groups as well as perceived injustices have lead to the incidences of hate and extremism in American society. The encyclopedic entries of the book are specifically written to accessible to readers without specific knowledge of extremism political science or sociology.