Dancing at Armageddon: Survivalism and Chaos in Modern Times

by Richard G. Mitchell Jr.

Winner of the Charles H. Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

Richard G. Mitchell Jr. spent more than a dozen years among survivalists at public conferences, private meetings, and clandestine training camps across America. He takes us inside a compelling, hidden world more connected to the chaos of modern life many of us experience than the label "separatist" suggests. In survivalism Mitchell found a profound and meaningful critique of contemporary industrial society, a subculture in which the real evil is not repressive government but the far more insidious influence of a "Planet Microsoft" mentality with its abundance of empty choices. Survivalists, Mitchell shows us, are seeking resistance, not struggling against it; they are looking for ways to define themselves and test their talents in a society that is becoming devitalized and formless.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2001

Reviews

[Lewis LaborMen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the author investigating the ins and outs of the people involved in the "survivalist" (prepper) movement. Everything from attending "training camps" and in depth interviewers of several different flavors of preppers (the water chemist was my favorite).

I gave it three stars because though it was well written and researched. It made me despair for my fellow countrymen, lost in individualistic fantasy.