The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right

While September 11, 2001, directed American focus toward foreign terrorism, domestic right-wing hate groups celebrated within the United States. The Terrorist Next Door examines the men behind far-right organizations like the Posse Comitatus and the ideologies driving their attempts at violent revolution. The book traces the radical right from white supremacist groups emerging after the Civil War through the segregationist violence of the civil rights era, the right-wing tax protest movement of the 1970s, the farm crisis of the 1980s, and the militia movement of the 1990s. It profiles figures including William Potter Gale, a retired Army officer and founder of the Posse Comitatus, whose sermons and calls to armed insurrection influenced generations of tax protesters, militiamen, and anti-government activists since the 1960s. While Timothy McVeigh's 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people, this account extends beyond Oklahoma City to explore the broader paramilitary right. The research draws from official documents including FBI records, private archives, and confidential sources.