The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists [Paperback]

Martin A. Lee (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415925460 | ISBN-13: 978-0415925464 | Publication Date: October 1999 | Edition: 1

If you thought Nazism died with Hitler, think again. In "The Beast Reawakens," journalist Martin A. Lee documents the revival of fascist ideals from the wake of the Second World War to recent violent incidents in Europe and America. Defeated in war, many Nazis built new and profitable lives for themselves, stirring political intrigue and serving as role models to a new generation of white supremacists like Americans Francis Parker Yockey, whose book "Imperium" became the bible of anti-Semitism, and Willis Carto, who continues to run several ostensibly mainstream policy groups that deny the Holocaust ever took place. Often forced underground yet certain of their cause, this second generation of extremists can be linked to such recent violence as the Oklahoma City bombings, the shocking lynching of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, and the abortion clinic bombings by Eric Rudolf, who remains a fugitive. With extraordinary detail and insight, "The Beast Reawakens" examines the many strands of rightwing extremism worldwide to put the current fascist resurgence in contemporary perspective.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you thought Nazism died with Hitler, think again. In The Beast Reawakens, journalist Martin A. Lee traces the resurgence of fascist ideals from the prominent Nazis who escaped prosecution following World War II to the present-day incidents of right-wing violence in Europe and America. One only has to look at the current situation in the Balkans to see that fascism is alive and well. Lee begins his troubling account by reminding us of the many prominent Nazis who, after the war, built new and profitable lives for themselves fomenting political intrigue, while providing role models to a new generation of neo-Nazis all around the world. This underground Nazi culture might have remained out of sight had it not been for the fall of Communism. In the confusion following the end of the Cold War, right-wing nationalist movements sprang up all over Europe, taking root especially deep in formerly communist areas such as Croatia, Bosnia, and Romania.

According to Lee, "the Beast" doesn't restrict itself to Eastern Europe by any means; skinhead violence against immigrants is on the rise in Germany, while right-wing politicians in France, Italy, and other western European countries are increasingly finding a willing audience for their national and racial polemics. And lest American readers be lulled into a false sense of security, Lee warns that the United States is hardly immune to this kind of hateful rhetoric. He warns that many of the militia groups currently operating today share the same glorified attitude toward violence, the same irrational hatred of foreigners and ethnic minorities that mark the worst excesses of fascism in Europe. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Lee (Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD, and the Sixties, Grove Atlantic, 1987) traces neo-Nazism from the fall of the Third Reich to Oklahoma City. In this journalistic account, he uses certain personalities to trace a continuous thread of fascism over the 50 years. One of his main characters is Otto Skorzeny, the daring SS officer who became a favorite of Adolf Hitler. Skorzeny helped many Nazis escape from Germany and others gain positions in the intelligence agencies of the superpowers at the beginning of the Cold War. Lee has written a compelling work that should find an audience in public libraries, especially in light of recent interest in militia groups.?Dennis L. Noble, North Olympic Lib. System, Port Angeles, Wash.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415925460
• ISBN-13: 978-0415925464
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,461,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flawed, but pertinent to today's Third Way proponents, August 1, 1998

By 

Michael L. Lujan ([e-mail]) (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beast Reawakens (Hardcover)

[Review originally published in New Zealand publication 'The Nexus' No. 11 Feb 98]

Written in a journalistic style and blatantly Germanophobic, the author concedes nothing to his ideological adversaries nor even to the German people per se, whom he sees as not having sufficiently borne the 'guilt' of Nazism. Nevertheless, "The Beast..." is worth obtaining since the author, although accepting uncritically the whole baggage of anti-fascist propaganda, has also interviewed many stalwarts including Gen. Remer and H. Keith Thompson, Remer's and Francis Parker Yockey's ("Imperium") principle US contact.

Lee weaves a vast global fascist conspiracy, tracing its pedigree directly to the Third Reich and hatched by Remer, Col. Rudel and Otto Skorzeny, and continued by Yockey, Thompson, and reaching to such unlikely places as pro-Zionist televangelists and militiamen. Despite the extravagances and tenuous connections, there are good histories on the Third Wa! y, Russian 'National Bolsheviks,' et al.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Look at the Neo-Nazi Underground - Severely Marred by Left Wing Hysteria., June 16, 2008

By 

New Age of Barbarism "zosimos" (EVROPA.) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists (Paperback)

The book _The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists_, first published in 1997 and revised in 2000, by journalist and author Martin A. Lee is an account of the Neo-Nazi underground. Unfortunately, while this account does contain some useful information, it is highly biased and severely marred by left wing moralizing, manic anti-Germanism and anti-Russianism, and McCarthyism in reverse. As such, the author essentially presents a conspiracy theory arguing that Nazis are at root behind various disparate right wing movements (which he all connects together) while at the same time mocking those who adhere to "anti-government conspiracy theories". The author is extremely biased in his account and views Nazism as the single greatest evil ever to exist on earth. As such, he will take any position against it, including cozying up to the former Soviets, arguing that the fall of the Berlin Wall was not a good thing, or taking the side of America against Europe. Further, the author apes the rhetoric of right-wing populism by maintaining that those who oppose globalization are the same as those who promote it (somehow?). The author further believes in a militia conspiracy blaming the militias for the Oklahoma City Bombing quoting extensively from such dubious pro-communist sources as The Southern Poverty Law Center and the British anti-fascist journal _The Searchlight_. As such, this book can only be profitably read if one is capable of sorting through the author's sickening biases and sanctimonious moralizing. However, in many respects this book contains some of the same information as is to be found in _Dreamer of the Day_ (1999) by Kevin Coogan which fortunately spares us the moralizing and bias.

The book begins with the author's ranting Preface in which he argues that fascism and right-wing violence are on the rise. He proposes a conspiracy theory behind this linking disparate and separate far right movements together. However, he completely ignores violence committed in other forms and left-wing violence. The author then turns in this first part of this book to "A Surfeit of Spies" in which he discusses various spies of the Nazis. In the first chapter, the author discusses "Shifting Alliances", mentioning Otto Skorzeny ("Scarface"), the Gehlin Org, and ODESSA and the complicated relationship between the former Nazis, the United States, and the Soviet Union following the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War. The author maintains that former Nazis were recruited by U.S. intelligence and played an important role in the Cold War. The second chapter is entitled "The Seesaw Strategy" and maintains that the fascists tried to steer a middle course between the United States and the Soviet state playing one against the other. The author discusses such things as Hitler's bodyguard Otto Ernst Remer, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Leon Degrelle and the Nazis in Madrid and South America, and various attempts of Nazi spooks to join up with Soviets and other "Bolsheviks of the right". The third chapter is entitled "Neo-Nazi Disaspora". Here, the author traces the role of Neo-Nazism as it spread to America and notes the involvement of certain obscure individuals in various Nazi type cult organizations. The author mentions such individuals as Harold Keith Thompson and the National Renaissance Party, Francis Parker Yockey (a super-intelligent mystery man who had obscure links to the Soviets and advocated a pan-European Imperium) and the European Liberation Front, and the rise of Juan Peron in Argentina. The second part of this book is entitled "Political Soldiers". In a chapter entitled "The Swastika and the Crescent", the author notes the relationship between Neo-Nazis and the Arab world mentioning in particular Nasser's Egypt. In the following chapter entitled "Nostalgics and Revisionists", the author again focuses on Yockey explaining the role of Willis Carto founder of the Liberty Lobby and others. The author discusses the brazen Neo-Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell founder of the American Nazi Party as well as various movements in Europe. In particular, the author mentions the role of the Jeune Europe movement of Jean-Francois Thiriart (a reaction against American imperialism) and notes the increasing tendency among the far right of the period to flirt with the left, both in terms of Soviet communism and a Third World resurgence in an effort to overcome the onslaught of American imperialism. Such flirtations with the left led to problematic areas when for example Juan Peron who was brought into power on a populist coalition of left and right turned on his left wing supporters. Following this, is a chapter entitled "A Gathering Storm" discussing some of the "New Right" movements. The author discusses various problems faced by a post-war Germany, the French New Right including mention of Alain de Benoist (however the author despicably tries to blame de Benoist for anti-immigrant violence committed by Le Pen's movement despite the fact that de Benoist specifically avoided such issues), and a Brown and Green alliance in a post-war Germany. The author also discusses the rise of the Liberty Lobby in the United States, its alleged relation to the Republican Party, and the role of the Institute for Historical Review and the journal _The Spotlight_ under Carto. The third part of this book is entitled "Post Cold-War Fascism". The first chapter in this part is entitled "Germany Reunited". Unfortunately, here the author gives vent to some of the worst anti-Germanic sentiment, blaming problems faced by the reunited Germany and economic hardships on the fall of the Berlin Wall and maintaining that poor Germany has not been sufficiently punished for her supposed crimes. The second chapter in this part is entitled "Shadow Over the East". The author considers such things as the rise of Prussia, the reunited Germany and the relationship between East Germany and West Germany, the role of the Balkans mentioning Tudjman of the Croatians and Milosevic of the Serbs, and the advent of Russia in a post-Soviet era. The case of Russia is particularly interesting and the author examines such bizarre trends as the rise of the National Bolsheviks and Zhirinovsky, mentioning also the writer Eduard Limonov and the possibility of a Red-Brown alliance. The next chapter is entitled "From the Margins to the Mainstream". Again the author indulges in the worst sort of conspiracy theory hype, maintaining that the militia movement and white supremacists were behind the Oklahoma City Bombings. The author also discusses such individuals as David Duke, Pat Robertson, Patrick Buchanan, and the authors of _The Bell Curve_ attempting to link such disparate individuals into a single movement. Finally, the author ends with a pro-immigrant rant. The book ends with a Conclusion in which the author re-iterates his biases and maintains that fascism exists even within democracy and must be rooted out at all costs.

It is unfortunate that while this book offers much useful information on various players in the Neo-Nazi underground that the author has decided to let his biases interfere with genuine research. However, if one can stomach to read through the left wing moralizing, there is some interesting information to be obtained here. In particular, developments in Europe offer interesting possibilities including the problematic of linking the far right with either the United States or the Soviet state or various Third World causes. Such developments continue to play an important role in our world today.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AUTHOR'S BIAS INTERFERES WITH RESEARCH, September 2, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (San Juan Capistrano, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beast Reawakens (Hardcover)

Lee's book, which is hailed by many in "progressive" circles, was well researched with detailed footnotes. I was constantly annoyed, however, by Mr. Lee's childish habit of name-calling and his sometimes strange connections which seem to be stretching a bit; i.e. "...[His] bookstore even sold a comic book that claimed the holocaust never happened." Damning proof of a worldwide plot if I ever heard one ! Also, Lee seems to have penned this work hoping to release it in serialized format; Facts and quotes are often repeated chapter after chapter. It becomes a bit patronizing after the first occurence. I did enjoy reading it, and anyone interested in geopolitics will find it to be worth the time-investment despite the book's anti-German bias.