Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next by Bradley Onishi is a book that everyone who cares about the future of America should read. It is equally fascinating and frightening how carefully planned and funded the authoritarian take over of America has been put into motion. Onishi concisely provides the history and some of the motivations of White Christian Nationalism from an insiders perspective. He also provides perspectives (and references) from a large number of experts and scholars.

[Note: a copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher as a LibraryThing Early Reviewer.] ( )

Bradley Onishi converted to evangelical christianity as a young teen, diving deep into the culture before deeper study of religion at places like Oxford brought him out. And so, after January 6th's events at the US Capitol, he asked himself " Would I have been there?"

The answer is a fascinating and terrifying history of the rise of the radical Right and racist Christian nationalism from the John Birch Society to today. And the most scary thing? He concludes that it's not a question of whether something like J6 will happen again, but a question of when. ( )

I read and study more about violent right wing extremism than most people or than is probably healthy for my brain, and this is easily one of the best short intros for answering the question of "how did violent racist extremist bigots become the mainstream Republican Party?" Out of necessity it can't go into great detail about every creep, freak and maniac responsible, but this is a great basic layout of how extremists from different stripes of American fringe conservatism came together to create a racist anti-government death cult - Phyllis Schlafly, Barry Goldwater, the John Birch Society, Jerry Falwell, Ronald Reagan, Focus on the Family, racists angry about Brown v Board and the Bob Jones University tax exemption decision, and various flavors of right-wing libertarianism. It also talks about the current iteration in Donald Trump, QAnon, various fascist groups like the alt-right and MAGA more broadly, plus plans by some white fascists to move to the rural Pacific Northwest in prelude to the race war they want to start.

The author also adds personal anecdotes due to growing up in a community that was prone to this kind of racist political mythmaking, as well as his own personal history as a right-wing evangelical extremist. This aspect is important in the book due to it showing that at least some people can change their opinions. Deradicalization is a bit controversial as a concept, but it's important to acknowledge that some people choose to change. This is particularly important in light of the later chapters of the book, which focus heavily on fascist conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones, Ali Alexander and the January 6th coup attempt, plus related conspiracy theories and attempts to ignore reality by fascists nationwide, as well as the ongoing effort by violent extremists to turn Idaho and adjoining portions of the Pacific Northwest into a white ethnostate from which to launch genocidal wars against the rest of the country.

It's not solely focused on America, either, especially by talking about the admiration of LGBT-hating American fascists for bigoted eastern European countries like Hungary and Russia. Importantly this book does not go into QAnon-style conspiracy theories about Putin directing American fascists to be fascists - they were like that anyway, and admiration of or from Russia is more of a coincidence than any grand plan.

The single most important idea from this book that I haven't really seen expressed in many other places is the point that Christian nationalism is a secular political ideology dressed up in religious clothes. They borrow a lot of religious trappings, mostly so they can hide their secular political agenda behind freedom of religion, but their movement is fundamentally secular and fascist, intended to impose a homophobic, transphobic, patriarchal and racist sociopolitical order on the rest of the country.

The only important typo that I noticed was a misprint of the 2020 election - someone mixed up numbers and listed it as happening in 2021.

People who have spent substantial amounts of time researching these people and their ideas may have some questions about specific aspects of the timeline (covering as it does everything from 1920s Germany and a 1630 quote from John Winthrop to 4chan and Alex Jones) but for the average person who does not know anything in depth about these topics, this is the perfect book to start with. ( )

Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next, by Bradley Onishi, is an eye-opening connecting of the dots from the past 60 years or so.

Combining his experiences and insights from being a member of this group with historical and political analysis, Onishi makes a very strong argument for what can only be called exactly what he calls it: preparing for war. While not stating it explicitly, or at least not in these terms, he highlights what amounts to a shift from postmillennialism to premillennialism in a lot of Protestant thought. So rather than even try to make the world better, they are largely content with helping to destroy society to speed along their anticipated Kingdom. This book is primarily telling the story of the premillennial period, with eugenics and various other colonializing tendencies of the past left in the past of postmillennialism. But it is all indicative of Christian nationalism.

What is most troubling is that for many of these people there is no way to reach them. Their beliefs entail that they get their way, no matter the cost or who pays. On one hand, it is understandable. If you so firmly believe in a God that wants you to make people miserable in order to bring about some Kingdom, then it makes sense that nothing any other human can do or say would deter you. For those who don't believe in such a God, even though for many it is theoretically the same God, causing pain and misery to other people is immoral and unethical. In fact, for those who believe that all humans are God's children, it seems even less like something a God, or at least a caring God, would demand.

While Onishi does see some hope for the future, it is hard for me to see the same hope, though I will still keep trying to make the world better. But for me, even while trying to peacefully make things better, I will also prepare for war. Particularly since those wanting to destroy the world for some mythical Kingdom have no intention of taking prisoners, so neither will I.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing. ( )

This book is both informative and scary for someone of my political bent. I have watched public affairs fairly closely since the 1960s. But yet Onishi taught me much about the development of the radical right that was new to me as a follower or mainstream media. I learned for the first time what white Christian nationalists really believe and why they believe it is more important that they be in power than that democracy be preserved. The author's predication that more attacks on our democracy are sure to follow the MAGA defeat of Jan. 6, 2021 scares a somewhat complacent liberal like myself. It also alarms that a "redoubt" is being established in Idaho and surrounding states in which to establish a racist theocracy. Much has happened since Goldwater was defeated by a landslide for the presidency in 1964. This book tells the story in a way that cannot be ignored. ( )