Abstract

Patriot games

The article presents information on two books: American Militias: Rebellion, Racism & Religion, by Richard Abanes; The Klan, by Patsy Sims. Most of the new books on the militia movement build the case for a government crackdown and new anti-paramilitary legislation. Even though Abanes lends his adversaries credibility by buying into their terminology, American Militias is an informative primer. He provides concise, competent accounts of the patriot movement's origins and rise. The militias have been capturing the white American mainstream in a way that no radical right movement has since the Klan of the twenties. Patsy Sims's classic 1978 study of the revitalized Invisible Empire, The Klan, has just been re-issued. Each chapter in Sims's tour across the South interviewing and investigating top Klansmen is briefly updated.