Cowboy Apocalypse: Religion and the Myth of the Vigilante Messiah

Charts the myth of the “good guy with a gun,” connecting America’s frontier beginnings with visions of the end of the world

In the midst of widespread mass shootings in America, a common motif stands out: the perpetrators of these attacks often view themselves as vigilante saviors, whose job it is to regulate society in a way that exterminates their enemies.

In this fascinating critique, Rachel Wagner makes the case that this unfortunate phenomenon is best understood through the idea of the c...