Nostalgia, Nationalism, and the US Militia Movement

NPR's Andrew Limbong talks to Amy Cooter of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies about how realistic an idea of a second civil war is

Nostalgia, Nationalism, and the US Militia Movement is an accessible primer on the contemporary US militia movement. Exploring the complicated history of militias in the United States, starting with the Revolutionary War period, this book leverages unique data from ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and previously unseen archival materials from militia founder Norm Olson to detail the modern movement’s origin and trajectory through the attempted insurrection of January 6th and beyond.

This book uses the lenses of nostalgia and settler colonialism to explain militia members’ actions and beliefs, including their understandings of both nationalism and masculinity. This approach situates militias in a broader political landscape and explains how and why they will continue to be relevant actors in American politics.

A general audience will find this book approachable, and it will be of particular interest to people studying militias or other social movement organizations whose vision of an ideal nation rests on a nostalgic image of the past and potentially encourages political violence.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Samuel, Lawrence R., author.
Title: Home ownership in America : a socio-cultural history of housing in
the United States / Lawrence R. Samuel.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2024. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2024012795 | ISBN 9781032771434 (hardback) | ISBN
9781032758039 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003481485 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Home ownership--United States--History. | Home
ownership--United States--Social aspects.
Classification: LCC HD7287.82.U6 S26 2024 | DDC
333.33/80973--dc23/eng/20240531
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024012795