Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat
by Morris Dees
Chief Trial Counsel, Southern Poverty Law Center
with James Corcoran
Associate Professor, Chairman of Communications Dept.
Simmons College, Boston
HarperCollins, 1996
Binding by Minsky, 1997


Bound in russet Nigerian Goatskin, with quotes from the book stamped in 23K gold. Endpapers are Rives BFK, printed on an Epson Stylus 1500 inkjet, and shot at 50 yards with a Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic rifle. 9 1/4" x 6".

This book documents the hate group roots of the militia movement. Dees is intimately familiar with the players. Militia spokesman and former KKK Grand Dragon Louis Beam was prosecuted by Dees when he led the KKK intimidation of Vietnamese fishermen in Texas. Dees' office was firebombed, and he is a target of assassins. This book has a substantial photo section which includes William Pierce, leader of the racist National Alliance and author of the 1978 novel TheTurner Diaries (which tells the "history" of the successful Aryan Revolution and is believed to be the manual used by Timothy McVeigh in planing the Oklahoma City bombing). Other detailed players with photos are John Trochmann, founder of the Militia of Montana and Christian Identity's Pete Peters, whose followers include the Army of Israel militia. This sect believes the Aryans are the true Jews and the people who call themselves Jews are literally descended from Satan. They consider this a Holy War.

The enpapers feature the author, Morris Dees, who is a target of racist assassins.

You may also want to visit: Southern Poverty Law Center

The above binding is a detail of the work pictured to the right:

The Right To Bear Arms

Seven books on the American Militia movement, the right to bear arms, and the gun culture, in a snakeskin cabinet with a Norinco MAK-90 semi-automatic rifle, three loaded clips, and a thousand rounds of ammunition. Created 1996-98, this work is part of Minsky's series The United States Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and is subtitled The Second Amendment. Click on the image to return to the main Second Amendment page.

Also in "The Bill of Rights" series:

Reliquary for the Ashes of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses
The First Amendment

Forlorn Hope: The Prison Reform Movement
by Larry Sullivan
The Eighth Amendment

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 Each section has several thumbnail images and descriptions of the works. You can click on any image for a page about that work, with larger pictures and details.