Rural Radicalism in Our Time

In the post-war years, many farm groups continued the tradition of non-violent protest against falling crop prices and community decline. But falling incomes and rising racial resentments in the increasingly isolated countryside also brought about growth in new hate groups. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols acted to avenge the FBI and ATF killings at Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho. But many more less well known groups, like militias and sovereign citizen organizations, also developed in the countryside, preparing for what they believed could be the end days of white America.