Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing

by Stuart A. Wright

• ISBN13: 9780521872645
• ISBN10: 0521872642
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-06-11
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book explores new ground in social movements by analyzing an escalating spiral of tension between the Patriot movement and the state centered on the mutual framing of conflict as 'warfare'. By examining the social construction of 'warfare' as a principal script or frame defining the movement-state dynamic, Stuart A. Wright explains how this highly charged confluence of a war narrative engendered a kind of symbiosis leading to the escalation of a mutual threat that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. Wright offers a unique perspective on the events leading up to the bombing because he served as a consultant to Timothy McVeigh's defense team for eighteen months and draws on primary data based on face-to-face interviews with McVeigh. The book contends that McVeigh was firmly entrenched in the Patriot movement and was part of a network of 'warrior cells' that planned and implemented the bombing.

Author Biography

Stuart A.Wright is professor of sociology and Assistant Director for the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Lamar University (Beaumont, TX).

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. x
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xi
Codicil to a Patriot Profile	p. 1
Patriots, Political Process, and Social Movements	p. 23
The Historical Context of Patriot Insurgency	p. 44
The Farm Crisis, Threat Attribution, and Patriot Mobilization	p. 70
State Mobilization: Building a Trajectory of Contention	p. 97
The Gun Rights Network and Nascent Patriots: Rise of a Threat Spiral	p. 114
Movement-State Attributions of War: Ruby Ridge and Waco	p. 139
Patriot Insurgency and the Oklahoma City Bombing	p. 166
After Oklahoma City: Patriot Demobilization and Decline	p. 194
References	p. 219
Index	p. 233
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