George Michael (professor)

George Michael
Born	George Joseph Michael (1961-01-30) January 30, 1961
Nationality	American
Education	BS, MA, PhD (2002) in public policy
Alma mater	Widener University Temple University George Mason University
Occupation(s)	Historian, political scientist, writer
Employer	Westfield State University
Known for	Research regarding the American far-right
Notable work	The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right
Awards	University of Virginia's Outstanding Research Award

George Joseph Michael (born January 30, 1961) is an American historian, political scientist, and writer. He is a professor at the criminal justice faculty of Westfield State University in Massachusetts, and previously served as associate professor of nuclear counterproliferation and deterrence theory at the Air War College and as associate professor of political science and administration of justice at The University of Virginia's College at Wise. He studies right-wing extremism, including the relationship between militant Islam and the far right, and is the author of Confronting Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA (2003), The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right (2006), Willis Carto and the American Far Right (2008), Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator (2009), Lone Wolf Terror and the Rise of Leaderless Resistance (2012), and Extremism in America (editor) (2014). Professor Michael has also published research on SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and is the author of Preparing for Contact: When Humans and Extraterrestrials Finally Meet (2014).

Early life and education

Michael was born in 1961 and has a B.S. from Widener University and an M.A. from Temple University. He obtained his Ph.D. in public policy from George Mason University in 2002, where he studied under Francis Fukuyama, with a thesis entitled "The U.S. Response to Domestic Right Wing Terrorism and Extremism: A Government and NGO Partnership."

Career

Described by The Christian Science Monitor as an expert on political extremism, he was awarded the University of Virginia's "Outstanding Research Award", awarded to a faculty member who "has contributed significantly to published research in his or her discipline".

Michael is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. As a civilian, he conducted operations research for the U.S. Army.

In 2003, he authored Confronting Right-wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA, which discussed domestic terrorists and the threats which they pose to the U.S. "homeland security."

Political Science Quarterly reviewed his 2006 book The Enemy of My Enemy, writing that it "explores the connections and possibilities for cooperation between militant Islamic movements and Western right-wing extremism", and it "provides a good overview of the historical and intellectual wellsprings of these two movements, but it ultimately does not provide a case that would justify alarm". Daveed Gartenstein-Ross of The Weekly Standard also reviewed it. He found it too long, yet lacking in analysis. But he noted its "in-depth study of the on-again, off-again love affair between radical Islam and the extreme right."

His 2008 book Willis Carto and the American Far Right is about Willis Carto, founder of the Liberty Lobby.

Michael says that post-9/11, underground radio stations that traffic in conspiracy theories and incite violence in the U.S. are under greater scrutiny because law enforcement has been given more power to prosecute such speech. He also says that the American Free Press newspaper is "the most important newspaper of the radical right." He notes that: "Traditionally, critique of the IRS has come from the right, such as the Christian Patriot movement, but sovereign citizen movements also invoke a lot of left-wing ideas like anti-capitalism that are consistent with the times and the downturn in the economy, where people may have property liens against them."

Bibliography

Books

• Confronting Right Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA (Routledge, 2003, ISBN 0-415-31500-X).
• Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator (University Press of Florida, 2009, ISBN 0-8130-3350-0).
• The Enemy of my Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right (University Press of Kansas, 2006).
• Willis Carto and the American far right, George Michael, University Press of Florida, 2008, ISBN 0-8130-3198-2, ISBN 978-0-8130-3198-9
• Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator, George Michael, ISBN 978-0-8130-3350-1 (2009)
• Lone Wolf Terror and the Rise of Leaderless Resistance, George Michael, Vanderbilt University Press, 2012, ISBN 9780826518552
• Extremism in America, George Michael (editor), University Press of Florida, 2014, ISBN 9780813061986
• Preparing for Contact: When Humans and Extraterrestrials Finally Meet, George Michael, RVP Press, 2014, ISBN 9781618613226

Articles

• Michael, George; Scolnick, Joseph (2006). "The Strategic Limits of Suicide Terrorism in Iraq". Small Wars & Insurgencies. 17 (2): 113–125. doi:10.1080/09592310600562886. S2CID 144768701.
• Michael, George (2006). "RAHOWA! A History of the World Church of the Creator". Terrorism and Political Violence. 18 (4): 561–583. doi:10.1080/09546550600880633. S2CID 145102528.
• Michael, George (2006). "Professor Kevin MacDonald's Critique of Judaism: Legitimate Scholarship or the Intellectualization of Anti-Semitism?". Journal of Church and State. 48 (4): 779–806. doi:10.1093/jcs/48.4.779.
• Michael, George (2007). "Deciphering Ahmadinejad's Holocaust Revisionism". Middle East Quarterly: 11–18.
• Michael, George (2007). "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Sponsorship of Holocaust Denial". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 8 (3–4): 667–671. doi:10.1080/14690760701571288. S2CID 144230127.
• Michael, George (2007). "The Legend and Legacy of Abu Musab al‐Zarqawi". Defence Studies. 7 (3): 338–357. doi:10.1080/14702430701559248. S2CID 153603849.
• Michael, George; Minkenberg, Michael (2007). "A Continuum for Responding to the Extreme Right: A Comparison between the United States and Germany". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 30 (12): 1109–1123. doi:10.1080/10576100701670961. S2CID 109400403.
• Michael, George (2008). "Michael Collins Piper: An American Far Right Emissary to the Islamic World". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 9: 61–78. doi:10.1080/14690760701856390. S2CID 144883565.
• Michael, George; Mulloy, D. J. (2008). "Riots, disasters and racism: Impending racial cataclysm and the extreme right in the United States". Patterns of Prejudice. 42 (4–5): 465–487. doi:10.1080/00313220802377404. S2CID 143681020.
• Michael, George (2009). "David Lane and the Fourteen Words". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 10: 43–61. doi:10.1080/14690760903067986. S2CID 145438802.
• Michael, George (2009). "A Review of: "Martin Durham,White Rage: The Extreme Right and American Politics"". Terrorism and Political Violence. 21 (2): 341–343. doi:10.1080/09546550902765730. S2CID 145094595.
• Michael, George (2009). "The Ideological Evolution of Horst Mahler: The Far Left–Extreme Right Synthesis". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 32 (4): 346–366. doi:10.1080/10576100902743997. S2CID 145248936.
• Michael, George (2009). "Adam Gadahn and Al-Qaeda's Internet Strategy". Middle East Policy. 16 (3): 135–152. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.2009.00409.x.
• Michael, George (2010). "Steven Emerson: Combating Radical Islam—Defeating Jihadist Terrorism". Middle East Quarterly: 15–25.
• Michael, George (2015). "Is a Greater Russia Really So Bad?" (PDF). Military Review: 99–115.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• "The strategic perils of suicide terrorism" by George Michael, Star-Telegram, October 16, 2005.
• Gartenstein-Ross, Daveed (August 9, 2006), "Strange Allies – George Michael's "The Enemy of My Enemy" details the unlikely alliance between militant Islam and the extreme right", The Weekly Standard, archived from the original on February 19, 2010, retrieved April 24, 2010
• Durham, Martin (2007). "George Michael. The Enemy of My Enemy. The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right -- Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2006. 397+viii pp; $34.95. ISBN 0-7006-1444-3". Terrorism and Political Violence. 19 (3). Routledge: 435–436. doi:10.1080/09546550701476000. S2CID 146714383.
• Larson, Eric V. (2007). "George Michael, The Enemy of My Enemy – The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right (Book Review)". Political Science Quarterly. 122 (1). Academy of Political Science: 159–160. doi:10.1002/j.1538-165x.2007.tb01595.x. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
• Lerner, Saul (2008). "The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right (review)". Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 27 (1). Project MUSE Journals: 138–141. doi:10.1353/sho.0.0272. S2CID 146912897.
• Weisenburger, Steven. "Confronting Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA (Book Review), The Journal of Southern History, February 1, 2005, accessed April 19, 2010.