When we think of the impact of the Vietnam War on American culture, we tend to think of the liberal counter-culture movement. But historian Kathleen Belew argues that the Vietnam War has an equally, but completely under-recognised impact on the culture of the far right in America.

She says that although white power activism has always been a part of American culture, there was a profound shift after Vietnam. America’s loss in the war created a deep dense of anger and betrayal, and united previously disparate groups like veterans, survivalists, Ku Klux Klansmen, radical tax resisters, neo-Nazis, local militia groups and the Christian Identity movement.

Belew argues that the US government has wrongly seen acts of domestic terror perpetrated by these groups as isolated incidents and lone wolf attacks, when in fact they are part of a broader movement aimed at inciting race war, and overthrowing the US government.

Kathleen Belew’s book is called Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America.