Suggested Literature for White Nationalist Gangs

If you’re looking for a book that basically outlines White Nationalism, look no further than Blood and Politics by Leonard Zeskind. Upon checking this book out at the library, opening it, and looking at the table of contents, I knew it would be a gem when it comes to researching my topic of White Nationalist gangs. Zeskind touches on so many facets of the white nationalist movement, ranging from the Turner Diaries, basically the white nationalist bible, to David Duke, a former United States Representative for Louisiana and now a Grand Wizard of the infamous Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, to the denial of the Holocaust. It goes through the history of multiple movements, ranging from the birth of the Christian Patriots, connections with the government, successes and failures of multiple facets of the movement overall, current action being taken towards the New World Order, and so much more. A whopping 621 pages, it is loaded with information.

 

As pertaining to white nationalist prison gangs in a more specific sense, he touches mainly on the Neo-Nazis and Skinheads and the Militia Movement, each having their own specific chapters. With my knowledge simply scratching the surface of white nationalist gangs, I do know that both of these gangs are very highly known and prevalent in the US today. They are also very notorious for being violent, a common link towards what one would constitute a gang in the first place.

In the Skinheads chapter, he focuses a lot on the family-like relationships and intense comradeship involved in the gang. A more youthful group, they tend to bring in the vulnerable “high school dropouts from middle-class, politically conservative, suburban backgrounds” (Zeskind, 2009). Neo-Nazi’s are notorious for their punk rock, violent, and careless outward action on their political views of the nationalist movement.

A second book that focuses on gang violence in America is Gangs by Scott Cummings and Daniel J. Monti. This book speculates much more broadly on America gangs and gang violence, touching on all different types. However, there is an important chapter that does delve further into gangs formed on a racial basis.

Overall, Cummings and Monti show a very psychologically based and intensely research based viewpoint on the formation and origin, implementation and maintaining of, and workings of an established gang in today’s society. Obviously, although not all gangs included in this reading are based on that of white nationalist ideology, much of the bases of them have some things in common.

Particularly delving into the chapter pertaining to gangs and civil rights, it reveals the core action of white nationalist gangs, and other gangs formed on a racial basis: a belief of supremacy of your particular race. It’s really of no surprise that white nationalist gangs are mentioned within this chapter.  This book also states that it is in fact a rarity to find a gang that is truly interracial. This connects to white nationalist gangs because the core belief of supremacy of the white race is what links members to the brotherhood in the first place.

Both books are great for a further investigation of white supremacist gangs and violence. The latter involves more speculation and connection of the reader, while the first book mentioned is a much more straight-forward book towards the specificity of the topic.