During his time at Chapel Hill, McVeigh was an associate editor of the academic journal Social Forces.
He then took the position as assistant professor of sociology at Skidmore College from 1997 through 2002 and then at the University of Notre Dame.
McVeigh's book, entitled The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan: Right-Wing Movements and National Politics[8] was published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2009.
According to reviewers Heidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks, "The work offers a sophisticated new explanation of the quick rise of an organization that, at its height, numbered more than three million.
McVeigh's second book, entitled The Politics of Losing: Trump, the Klan, and the Mainstreaming of Resentment, was published by Columbia University Press in 2019.