Book Review: American Militias: State-Level Variations in Militia Activities

• DOI: 10.1177/0734016805275707
• Date: 01 May 2005
• Published date: 01 May 2005
• Subject Matter: Articles

Book Reviews 127
American Militias: State-Level Variations in Militia Activities, by Joshua D. Freilich. New
York: LFB Scholarly Publishing, 2003, 183 pp.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016805275707
This book presents research on the militia movement in 50 states during 1994 and 1995.
The main focus is to understand what differentiated states that had more militia organizations
and activity from those states with less. Second, the author seeks to fill a void in the literature
through use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods.
The introductory chapter spells out the author’s focus and goals and does a good job of
preparing the reader for the chapters ahead. The author draws on scholarly articles and books,
analyses by journalists and others, books by human rights watch groups, senate hearings, and
materials produced by the militia members themselves. A number of hypotheses and predic-
tions are set forth that could account for observed variations in the distributions and level of
activities of militia groups.
In the literature review in chapter 2, the author educates the reader about the structure and
ideology of militia groups and describes a variety of recruitment methods. There are two gen-
eral types of militia groups (above ground and below ground), and they have different struc-
tures, beliefs, and attitudes. The two types of groups do share a general ideology, for instance,
unconventional beliefs concerning governmental authority, especially the federal
government.
The author advises that militias fear losing their constitutionally protected rights in gen-
eral and their highly cherished right to carry firearms in particular.
Chapter 3 uses the state of Michigan as a brief case study of the history of militia move-
ments. Chapter 4 begins with a review of the theories that might explain social movements.
This review sets the stage for consideration of more specific theories that explain the rise of
right-wing social movements and very focused...