I’ll start by saying this is a frightening book. But then we do live in frightening times. The title is They Want to Kill Americans by Malcolm Nance. When I first saw the title, I immediately thought of foreign terrorists.

But I quickly realized a was wrong. The subtitle (The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency) gives that away. This book is about Americans who wanted to kill other Americans who disagree with them.

The book opens with a story TV discussion shortly after the election of Joe Biden as President. Many were very happy but as Malcolm Nance said “I was there doing my usual job of marring an otherwise happy occasion by warning that a great threat was looming.”

After a brief mention of his national security credentials and a mention of his previous books on the subject he progresses to a description of the insurrection of January 6. 2021 which was an attempt to prevent the actual winner (Biden) of the Presidential election from stealing the election from the actual loser (Trump). Sounds crazy but it actually happened.

I found the description of the insurrection itself more or less a repeat of what I have been hearing in the news, but found the background (particularly on militia movements in US history) very interesting. The descriptions of the crazy ideologies such as Q-Anon were useful but a bit difficult at times since they are so irrational. I did appreciate the extensive references,

So a bit of a mixed review. I think we should all find it frightening. I do recommend this book but depending on how closely you have followed the news of the January 6 insurrection, you could find the descriptions of those events a bit repetitive or what you already know.

I thank Netgalley for the chance to read it before publication. The book is schedule to be published on July 12 so you can plan ahead if interested.