Synopses & Reviews
Richard G. Mitchell Jr. spent more than a dozen years among survivalists at public conferences, private meetings, and clandestine training camps across America. He takes us inside a compelling, hidden world more connected to the chaos of modern life many of us experience than the label "separatist" suggests. In survivalism Mitchell found a profound and meaningful critique of contemporary industrial society, a subculture in which the real evil is not repressive government but the far more insidious influence of a "Planet Microsoft" mentality with its abundance of empty choices. Survivalists, Mitchell shows us, are seeking resistance, not struggling against it; they are looking for ways to define themselves and test their talents in a society that is becoming devitalized and formless.
Review
"The Aryan Nations material is well worn, but the rest of Mitchell's account is provocative and surprising. His book is an important attempt to clarify and contextualize a movement that thrives on mainstream society's fringes." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Winner of the Charles H. Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.Richard G. Mitchell Jr. spent more than a dozen years among survivalists at public conferences, private meetings, and clandestine training camps across America. He takes us inside a compelling, hidden world more connected to the chaos of modern life many of us experience than the label "separatist" suggests. In survivalism Mitchell found a profound and meaningful critique of contemporary industrial society, a subculture in which the real evil is not repressive government but the far more insidious influence of a "Planet Microsoft" mentality with its abundance of empty choices. Survivalists, Mitchell shows us, are seeking resistance, not struggling against it; they are looking for ways to define themselves and test their talents in a society that is becoming devitalized and formless.Winner of the Charles H. Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.Richard G. Mitchell Jr. spent more than a dozen years among survivalists at public conferences, private meetings, and clandestine training camps across America. He takes us inside a compelling, hidden world more connected to the chaos of modern life many of us experience than the label "separatist" suggests. In survivalism Mitchell found a profound and meaningful critique of contemporary industrial society, a subculture in which the real evil is not repressive government but the far more insidious influence of a "Planet Microsoft" mentality with its abundance of empty choices. Survivalists, Mitchell shows us, are seeking resistance, not struggling against it; they are looking for ways to define themselves and test their talents in a society that is becoming devitalized and formless.
About the Author
Richard G. Mitchell Jr. is a professor of sociology at Oregon State University. He is the author of Mountain Experience: The Psychology and Sociology of Adventure and Secrecy and Fieldwork, and the coeditor of Exploring Society.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Prospects
2. The Craft of Valuation
3. The Craft of Function
4. The Craft of Persuasion
5. Survivalism and Rational Times
6. Retrospects
Appendix
Notes
References
Index