Got from library. About hate and bigetroy. Racism. Don't buy

A disturbing history of the Dark Side of the American Dream. Profiling such groups like paramilitary militias, Neo-Nazis, and the KKK, the book offers abundant illustrations and lengthy excerpts of their writings / rantings / lunacy. The best way to expose these groups is to let them speak for themselves. Ridgeway uses this method and it is profoundly effective.

It is also worth noting how the racist Christian Identity philosophy and the libertarian extremist political ethos has become ingrained into the culture of the Republican Party as it has slid rightward since 1980. Reading the excerpts of the American Nazi, KKK, and militia members, one keeps seeing similar themes and perspectives. The "culture of decline" and the "besieged American Christian" are no longer fringe political ideas, which this book thoroughly documents, but are now mainstream mainline conservative ideology. Both Timothy McVeigh and the GOP see Janet Reno and the Waco debacle with the same perspective, albeit McVeigh used domestic terrorism to strike against the Federal Government, not the propaganda of "tax cuts" and "limited government" (while simultaneously empowering an Imperial Presidency and shredding the Constitution). Pointing out these obvious facts is tantamount to the child telling the blindly obedient adults that the "Emperor has no clothes." Ideologically speaking, how far apart on the political spectrum are McVeigh's paranoid conspiracies of a Zionist-Occupied Government in DC and Grover Norquist wanting to shrink the Federal Government to an smaller size, so he can promptly drown it in the bathtub? Why is their violence in these metaphors? And are they really metaphors or crypto-fascist code to inspire activism within their ranks? (I imagine these questions are what make readers not like this particular review. Then again, we are all spoon-fed nationalist mythologies and once those mythologies are exposed as just that -- mythologies -- people become incensed.)

The "small government" and "Christian Nation" rants one finds on conservative talk radio are oddly similar to the beliefs espoused by small government advocate and Christian Patriot Timothy McVeigh and his distaff avatar Sarah Palin (of Alaska Independence Party fame). After reading this book, it isn't that shocking, since both political conservatism and domestic terrorist groups have found purchase within the downscale socioeconomic strata and the rhetoric of cultural decline. ( )

Well written and very readable history of racism in the United States. Written as a companion to the film documentary of the same title, it adds details and more historical context to aid in understanding the background behind racist organizations, their members and leaders. Although a small minority, they do constitute a dangerous and potentially violent sub-culture that has seen some increase in numbers and influence in the years since the release of the documentary and this book. This same sub-culture produced the Oklahoma City bombers - Timothy McVeigh told investigators and interviewers that he took his inspiration from a science fiction book written by William Pierce, one of the racist leaders profiled in this book. ( )