Barbara F. Walter

The first half of this book presents a theory of civil war. Drawing conclusions from diverse examples from around the world, the author argues that the danger of civil war is highest in an "anocratic" zone between well-functioning democracy and dictatorship, where power is in flux. She then explains how evil men promote ethnic factions which appeal especially to men who feel they are losing status. And social media has made their recruitment much easier. This straightforward presentation makes intuitive sense and is easy to understand. The various examples substantiate the author's claims nicely.

In the second half the author warns that the United States may be in danger of dropping into the anocracy zone and risks civil war. It has been clear for a long time that US politics is becoming more adversarial, but I'm was not quite convinced about the risk of civil war. The author argues that civil war in the United States could take the form of domestic terrorism perpetrated by white supremacist militias. However, it seems to me that these militias would have to experience massive growth in numbers and strength to challenge the rule of law. I don't see that happening without some kind of economic catastrophe or internal splintering of police and military forces, neither of which is on the horizon.

I think the US chapters are a false alarm, but I would recommend this book just for the civil war framework it presents in the first half.… (mere)

You can probably go look at my tags for this book and if this is your kind of thing, like it is mine, you were hooked at political violence without even getting to genocide or Trump yet. But seriously, this book is really, really good and a few parts of the book have been similar to other books I've read, but I like that because maybe I can remember most of it. And duh, of course certain points have been used in other books I've read, that's basically because I read a lot about the same shit and it's being repeated because it's actually fucking true. But there were several times when I really thought to myself, "damn, this is really, really good and this woman is super-cool". 5 Stars… (mere)

You can probably go look at my tags for this book and if this is your kind of thing, like it is mine, you were hooked at political violence without even getting to genocide or Trump yet. But seriously, this book is really, really good and a few parts of the book have been similar to other books I've read, but I like that because maybe I can remember most of it. And duh, of course certain points have been used in other books I've read, that's basically because I read a lot about the same shit and it's being repeated because it's actually fucking true. But there were several times when I really thought to myself, "damn, this is really, really good and this woman is super-cool". 5 Stars… (mere)