Customer Reviews

Radical Religion in America: Millenarian Movements from the Far Right to the Children of Noah (Religion and Politics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best studies I have read on
radical religious groups, and the first serious
attempt to document the B'nai Noah and Asatru
relgions in a fair manner which shows the diversity
of opinions within those movements. A section dealing
with anti-cult groups and watchdog groups such as the
Anti-Defamation League shows how such groups make
little effort to truly understand their target
groups, instead opting for a narrow stereotyping
of such groups based on the actions of their most
extreme members. At the same time, Kaplan pulls
no punches in illustrating that there are
dangerous elements within these religions, even
though they only make up a small minority
on the fringe of these movements. Recommended for anyone
interested in the B'nai Noah, Asatru, Odinist, and
Christian Identity religions, and for anyone
wanting to understand why watchdog groups
are not particularly good sources for info on these religions.

The only problem with this book to me is that, while providing a good overview of the Children of Noah movement, I am not sure why it is in there in the first place. It can be damaging to a group to place them alongside other groups who are racist and violent in their ideologies. Despite pointing out that this movement is different, the image of all of these groups together will remain in people's minds. It's a bit like authors who place Wicca and other small religions in a book about Satanism. This only serves to increase stereotypes and hostility towards some groups.

Kaplan, however, is an excellent scholar and the book was a joy to read. Check out some of his articles in the journal "Terrorism and Political Violence". he has an exceptional one on the anti-abortion movement as a millennial movement.

Jeffrey Kaplan has produced one of the most responsible, non-hysterical accounts of new and unusual religious movements I have seen. Not only does he describe their historical and sociological roots, but deals with the often alarmist and unfair reactions to them. I highly recommend it.

This work is an expansion of Kaplan's doctoral theses. It is not a dry academic work. He has made connections with principals in the Christian Identity, Children of Noah and modern Asatru and Odinist movements and other related groups. Interestingly, despite all the fuss about these groups all are rather small and not very influential in American life and culture. He describes the symbiotic relationship between the racist groups and the Anti-Defamation League. The Children of Noah are a target of Christian Identity as an anti-cult movement. The cults and the anti-cult groups could not exist with out each other. This is a very revealing book

Its a common thing for books to be published that demonize and exagerate the power of various political movements and religions that "hate" watchdog groups like the ADL and SPLC are dependent on because thats where their bread and butter comes from. I look at books like these as fundraising schemes for those organizations and I'd be willing to bet that the authors are more often than not covertly contracted out by ADL, SPLC, etc. I started noticing a steady stream of books like these being published back in the 90s and it goes on to this day. Oh my! Run for your life the skinheads/muslims/nazis/militias/Farrakhan, etc, etc are coming to get us, we are all going to die if you don't hurry up and send Morris Dees and Abe Foxman some money! I actually heard an author of one of these hysterical books on a radio show claiming that Al-Queda and "skinheads" were teaming up and running multi-million dollar drug dealing operations as funding for the next 9/11! Ha ha! Seriously can the B.S possibly get any thicker than that one?

All things considered for the type of book that this is it was a comparativly unbiased account of a select few "fringe" religions (namely Christian Identity, Asatru/Odinism and Children of Noah) that exist in American society. You do get some useful information for basic research and information on these groups, so its not completely useless, but like with most books, especially like these, you have to read with a discerning eye.

This reader found this book to be confusing in terms of who the target audience was, not thorough enough in explanation, and laid out in a mannner that confused and caused a detriment to the theme of the entire book. In general, a piece of crap.