In 2005, Belew graduated with a
bachelor's degree (
B.A.) in the Comparative History of Ideas from
University of Washington, where she was named Dean's Medalist in the Humanities. She obtained a
master's degree (
M.Phil.) in 2008, and then a
doctoral degree (
Ph.D.) in 2011, both in American Studies from
Yale University. She was a professor of U.S. History at the
University of Chicago, where she received tenure in 2021, until leaving for
Northwestern University in 2022. She held postdoctoral fellowships from the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University,
Rutgers University, and
Stanford University. Some of Belew's most popular courses include The American Apocalypse, History of the Present, The American Vigilante, and Histories of Violence. Her research and teaching focuses on the themes of history of the present,
American conservatism, race, gender, violence, and the meaning of war, as well as
racism, the white power movement, and
militarism in the 21st-century United States. She commented: "Too many people still think of these attacks as single events, rather than interconnected actions carried out by
domestic terrorists. We spend too much ink dividing them into
anti-immigrant, racist,
anti-Muslim or
antisemitic attacks. True, they are these things. But they are also connected with one another through a broader white power ideology." In September 2019, Belew was a witness at a congressional hearing on confronting white nationalism. In her witness statement, Belew described what she terms "the white power movement" as a "threat to our democracy", said that it was "transnational", and "connected
neo-Nazis,
Klansmen,
skinheads, radical
tax protestors,
militia members, and others." She advocated forming something like the 2005
Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a step towards a solution to the problem. == Works ==