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Friendly Fire: An Irreverent History of When America Turned Its Guns Inward
What if the United States’ longest war was never overseas?
For more than two centuries, America has aimed its weapons outward while quietly turning them inward. From the Whiskey Rebellion to Waco, from Kent State to January 6, the same reflex keeps fear first, questions later.
Every generation discovers a new enemy hiding in plain sight—farmers, strikers, veterans, students, protesters—and calls the crackdown “keeping the peace.”
Friendly Fire tells the story of those domestic battles with Jordan Blake Carter’s signature blend of wit, clarity, and disbelief. This isn’t patriotic pageantry or academic scolding. It’s a wry, fast-moving tour through the moments when the nation forgot who it was aiming at, and what that forgetfulness still costs.
Meet the miners treated like insurgents, the veterans gassed in their own capital, the students shot for demanding answers, and the citizens who mistook their anger for liberty. Each chapter pulls a thread through American history’s most uncomfortable the republic has always been at war with itself.
Darkly funny, fiercely researched, and disturbingly familiar, Friendly Fire proves that history doesn’t repeat. It reloads.
For readers who love their history honest, human, and just a little exasperated.
If you’ve ever wondered how freedom keeps surviving its own defenders, this is the book you’ve been waiting for.
For more than two centuries, America has aimed its weapons outward while quietly turning them inward. From the Whiskey Rebellion to Waco, from Kent State to January 6, the same reflex keeps fear first, questions later.
Every generation discovers a new enemy hiding in plain sight—farmers, strikers, veterans, students, protesters—and calls the crackdown “keeping the peace.”
Friendly Fire tells the story of those domestic battles with Jordan Blake Carter’s signature blend of wit, clarity, and disbelief. This isn’t patriotic pageantry or academic scolding. It’s a wry, fast-moving tour through the moments when the nation forgot who it was aiming at, and what that forgetfulness still costs.
Meet the miners treated like insurgents, the veterans gassed in their own capital, the students shot for demanding answers, and the citizens who mistook their anger for liberty. Each chapter pulls a thread through American history’s most uncomfortable the republic has always been at war with itself.
Darkly funny, fiercely researched, and disturbingly familiar, Friendly Fire proves that history doesn’t repeat. It reloads.
For readers who love their history honest, human, and just a little exasperated.
If you’ve ever wondered how freedom keeps surviving its own defenders, this is the book you’ve been waiting for.
99 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2025
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