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Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream

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If you want to read a fairly balanced, as complete-as-it-gets view of the U.S. Racist Right, then this is your book. Trust me, I KNOW: several books on America's Far Right have quoted me, and only in one other case (Professor George Michael's acclaimed biography of Liberty Lobby honcho Willis Carto) did an author contact me for source material, interviews, etc. In THIS case, however, noted author/researcher Leonard Zeskind visited me in Washington, DC in early 2000, just before I went to work for the FBI as a paid informant, assigned to surveil white supremacist groups. We spent an entire day together, both in my office, and at a downtown restaurant, where he and Mark Potok - of the SPLC - interviewed me. Mr. Zeskind was/is genuinely curious about the U.S. Far Right, and he was extremely fair to me; I found him to be both honest and sincere. At the time, I wasn't able to tell him that the FBI had already contacted me and wanted me to work undercover for them, although agents I worked with have since told me that Mr. Zeskind is aware of my work there. I disagree here somewhat with a criticism of Mr. Zeskind as having something of a double standard, insofar as other racist/radical groups on the other side go: that's not the impression I got from this quiet, scholarly gentleman, whose book is, in my view, the most thoroughly-researched of its kind. Having known every major white supremacist from Carto to William Pierce to David Duke to John Tyndall, Nick Griffin, Mark Cotterill, and several of the minor players, both U.S.-based and in Europe, I think I know what I'm talking about here. IMO, this book should be part of any college course on racism, anti-semitism, and how it operates in America and elsewhere. Review submitted on 11-13-2011 by Todd A. Blodgett (ToddBlodgett@hotmail.com)

_Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement: From the Margins to the Mainstream_ (2009) by Leonard Zeskind provides an interesting history of the emerging white nationalist movement within the United States.

This book considers several important types of groups within the white nationalist movement. First, it should be noted that many of the individuals described are simply gangs of armed thugs with guns. As such they differ little from black, Hispanic, or Asian gangs, or other gangs, and thus the fact that they are white is irrelevant. The more legitimate faces of white nationalism are as follows:

Willis Carto (the respectable side of the movement) who used to operate on two fronts, a lobbying front through the Liberty Lobby and a more scholarly organization the Institute for Historical Review (which I think actually raises interesting questions about war and the assignment of war guilt).

William Pierce (a neo-Nazi who rejects conservativism completely for radical race revolution, sees the holocaust as not only historical fact but as justified in terms of a "new ethic" and calls for the creation of a secret Order to administer a system of white supremacy.

David Duke (a Klansman become "respectable" who advocates a gentler approach to white nationalism featuring open debate on issues, infiltration of politics through mainstream political parties, and separatism).

Pat Buchanan (a mainstream political commentator, a staunch ultra-conservative, and an advocate of isolationist policies and immigration reform).

Several other important figures, movements, and events are discussed in this book. These include issues such as the contrast between mainstreamers versus vaguardists (who advocate violent revolution) and white supremacy versus white separatism (which the author problematically maintains are the same thing). The book discusses the following individuals and groups: Wilmot Robertson, the Order, Gordon Kahl (an early tax-protester), the Posse Commitatus, Christian Identity, Bo Gritz (and the Populist Party - which sought to appeal to dispossessed farmers), the role of Pat Robertson (who forever disgraced himself by supporting Israel and calling for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on American television), Randy Weaver (and the horrifying events at Ruby Ridge - though the author despicably maintains that the government was justified), the events at Waco, the rise of the militia movement (and opposition to the New World Order), Timothy McVeigh (and the Oklahoma City Bombing, including his accomplice Terry Nichols and "others unknown"), Eric Rudolph (and anti-abortion activism), the role of the Freemen and the Phineas Priesthood (Richard Kelly Hoskins), Mark Weber (and the IHR/Legion for the Survival of Freedom, which came into conflict with Willis Carto), Resistance records (and the role of the skinhead movement), the role of German reunification and the rise of Russia, Sam Francis (and his involvement in the paleoconservative cause), the authors of _The Bell Curve_, Samuel Huntington (a mainstream academic who espoused theories of white racial unity), the role of the Reform Party in the campaign of Pat Buchanan, the scare of Y2K and other millennial fears, the rise of 9/11 conspiracy theories, the role of anti-immigration, the decline of Carto and Pierce, and finally a look towards the future. The book further considers such issues as the role of segregationism in America, opposition to income tax, communism, and immigration, the role of isolationism and nationalism, the opposition to globalism and the New World Order, and the role of pro-gun rights. The book also explains such issues as the interpretation of the Constitution by militia groups who distinguish between a "sovereign" and a Fourteenth Ammendment "citizen", the role of Christian Identity and the "one seed" versus the "two seed" theories, the role of the Phineas Priesthood based on a biblical character who allegedly opposed race-mixing, and finally the fears of "human rights" watchdog groups that the internet would introduce kids to white nationalist ideas and the subsequent hysteria which ensued. The book ends by noting the role that white nationalism may come to play in the future as the white majority becomes further dispossessed and anti-immigrant activism continues, particularly in the light of the recent election of Barak Obama.

My main criticisms of the book are as follows. I feel that the author really does not face up to the fact that multi-culturalism and "diversity" are not working very well, or the fact that some people genuinely want to be left alone and want the government out of their lives, or to consider some of the harm caused by the New Left on society since the Sixties. Further, the author makes no attempt to show why black nationalism or Jewish nationalism are any different from white nationalism. Nor why the left wing white devil theory or the Marxist capitalist devil theory are legitimate but the right wing communist devil theory or Jew devil theory are not. Finally, it is apparent that the author cannot abide the fact that whites may simply want their own counter-culture or understand the motives of disaffected people who are drawn to that counter-culture.

This book contains both solid research and strong analysis. The author knows more about this subject than probably anyone else. He has read widely but also attended the meetings and done the footwork for years and years. Some of the vignettes make you realize he had to have been there to know what happened. He has an overall analysis that is well supported by facts. And beyond that, even though the material is very disturbing, it is interesting to read.

Reading this book makes it easier to understand some of the things that are happening in this country of ours. The anxiety about immigration, the lies about the health care bill, really all refer back to one thing, which Zeskind zeroes in on superbly well. Understanding these guys means you understand the Sarah Palins, the Rush Limbaughs and the Pat Buchanans that much more easily.

Highly recommend!

This is an excellent book (I'm about a third of the way through it). The author gives great detail into the movement. I've long been fascinated with the whole white supremacist subculture (not from any agreement with their viewpoints but simply from curiosity), subscribed to some of their periodicals for a period, and have read several other books on this movement and the people involved.
And along with some interesting chronological detail about the events and people he also gives some interesting information as to the system of beliefs, explaining, for the first time I've seen, some of the doctrinal details of Christian Identity "theology".
Only a couple of weak spots. The first one I hesitate to call that because there is so much other detail, but he spends a good bit of the book relating the players in the movement and the events back to Willis Carto of Liberty Lobby and William Pierce. Those details are valuable and insightful but that focus seemed to leave out other elements, such as the American Nazi Party(ies) developments and the skinhead movement. In an already lengthy book with so much other information, as I said, this is pretty minor.
The second problem is more substantive, in my opinion. The author's liberal biases showed through in his efforts, which are actually pretty rare so far in the book, to tie genuine conservatives, Reagan and his Administration in particular to this movement which they rightfully loathed. I'm also no big fan of Pat Robertson, who gives me the creeps, but I don't believe Robertson has any sympathies with these elements but the author here tries to attach them via innuendo. McCarthyism was supposedly an affliction of the Right but the author dabbles in it from the Left. Again, he has spent very little time so far in doing this but the efforts are clear.
Without a doubt, though, if you want to understand this movement, especially the last 30+ years, which is it's focus, this book is a must-have.

Thank you Mr. Zeskind.
Your excellent book has given me more insight to what we are as Americans. I better understand my town, my county, my state, and our nation and every city within where I have lived. More of the nuance and distaste for some of the places I've lived is easier now to place. I am more concerned than ever regarding the limited capabilities of the citizenry for knowledge and understanding. Throw corporate control over government policy and the US military along with religious dogma into the mix of misinformation, deception, manipulation and the general stupidity of US citizen joe-sixpack and viola you have a deliverable terrorism that while sometimes outwardly violent, will be harder than ever to reconcile and understand. "Blood and Politics" takes the reader up to our moment in time though I think the dynamics of this kind of "differential terrorism" in the past easily aligned with hooded organized criminals or other easily identifiable sects will be more dangerous and harder than ever to encapsulate.