America’s apocalyptic literature of the radical right

Abstract

This article examines the American radical right’s fascination with apocalyptic millenarianism through the apocalyptic literature the movement has either generated or, as with The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, adopted as its own. These works are not all of a kind however; there are distinct categories into which they fall. These are: (1) Literature of the Crossroads in which the apocalypse can be averted if the nation follows a prescribed path; and (2) post-apocalyptic literature which sees no alternative to the End, and therefore embraces the inevitable cataclysm in the faith that the millennial future will bring at long last perfect peace and terrestrial perfection. Moreover, there are two distinct courses of action which this body of literature prescribes: (1) revolution now; or (2) a quietist withdrawal to an enclave where the White Race can safely sit out the apocalypse to come.