When you think of the word survivalist what is the first thing that occurs to you? Probably a malcontent at war with society and determined to take a few enemies with him on his suicide run. What you probably don't imagine is a disgruntled consumer who is tired of the same-old offerings of our corporate overlords and who wants to be their own culture maker. At least this is what Richard Mitchell claims to have generally discovered, as a result of years of doing ethnographic research among self-described survivalists. He's almost convincing about this too.

On the other hand, Mitchell did run into his share of bitter members of a fading American White Male Republic, who he makes no bones about feeling soiled by association with (you always remember your first cross burning), and some of these folks came to bad ends due to their obsessions and hatreds. This is even when Mitchell scoffs at the media picture of a vast survivalist/militia underground waiting to explode. Let's just say that when the author got his own concealed-weapons license he figured that it was time to move on. ( )