Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit more upsetting than your average idealist book..., March 15, 2002
I did a project recently on different groups in the white racialist movement and read this book as part of my research. Being quite liberal, I had to put it down and go outside for some fresh air, but it was rather hard to find a stopping point in order to do that.
This is a very well-written book. As much as I disagreed with its message, the pages kept turning. It involves elements of the author's idealism, a hero who will do anything that he thinks is right, action, warring factions, government opression, and so many other addictive written elements such as love and love lost, martyrdom, etc.
The particular type of idealism is disturbing; Turner, the hero of the book, is a White racist who, with his fellows, aspires to end all other races-- including Jews, who are portrayed in this book as evil-- for the "protection" of caucasians everywhere. The author sets his stage in a world where the "good guys" are kept down by a Jewish government who wants their guns. Throughout the book he goes from persecuted status to persecuted status until members of the Organization (the White Racialist group of which Turner is a member) revolt. The book portrays White racists as heroes and everyone else as either inconsequential or downright evil, including Whites not affiliated with the Organization. Despite its message, however, it is still well-written and hard to put down. Its nature, disturbing to most, will only make the storyline stick better in your head. I strongly recommend this book to someone who is not easily affected or easily sickened, and someone who is not sitting on a fence. There are graphic parts, disturbing parts, and times when you will put down the book and feel like someone has punched you in the chest, but anyone who enjoyed the movie "American History X" and/or has a fascination with the nature of hate should read this book.
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31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating, but not for everyone., April 15, 2000
Not coming from the perspective of the author, but rather from that of an open-minded libertarian, I bought and read this book out of sheer curiosity. While some of the scenes were a bit strong for my tastes, I certainly found the book fascinating. I regard it as always worth while to immerse one's self in the study of other perspectives. This book presented me with an ideal opportunity to do so. Whatever one thinks about the ideology advanced by its author, she must nevertheless conclude that this book is pretty interesting.Also fascinating to me has been the emphasis placed by other reviewers on the idea that this book is 'poorly written.' On the advice of these reviewers, I prepared myself to endure a poor read. I can attest that it is no more poorly written than any other novel for sale on Amazon. I really find it odd that so many reviewers have suggested this, considering that there is nothing noticeably poor about the writing in this book at all. After checking the reviews of clearly poorly written books, and finding nothing resembling such an emphasis, I inferred that these suggestions result from the sensitivity of the subject matter dealt with in the book. To each her own, I guess. Considering this, I advise those whose feathers are easily ruffled to read something else.
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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A piece of modern american history., October 26, 2000
Did you know that Timothy McVeigh owned a copy of this book and modeled his attack on the Oaklahoma building after the story? This alone makes it a piece of history and a book worth reading.The Turner Diaries is a fictional account of a white supremecist revolution. I personally do not agree with the views of the author, however I feel that exposure to extremist literature allows the reader to evaluate their own beliefs with a better understanding of the issues at hand. I recomend reading this book for anyone with an open mind and an ability to think for themselves. I do not feel that it is appropriate for highly influential individuals or the extremely sensitive.
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