(pb; 1978, 1980, 1996)
From the front cover:
"THIS BOOK CONTAINS RACIST PROPAGANDA.
"THE FBI SAID IT WAS THE BLUEPRINT FOR THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING.
"MANY WOULD LIKE IT BANNED. IT IS BEING PUBLISHED TO ALERT AND WARN AMERICA."
Review:
Publisher Lyle Stuart, not a White Power racialist (racist terrorist), says it best in his Introduction to this book: "The Turner Diaries is a dreadful book. It is ignorant. Even its author boasts, 'It offends almost everyone: Afro-Americans, feminists, gays and lesbians, liberals, communists, Mexicans, democrats, the FBI, egalitarians, and Jews. Especially the Jews: for it portrays them as incarnations of evil and destructive.'"
Why was this book, which not only inspired Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, but other antigovernment terrorists (e.g., "the Order," a 1985 group of murderers) being published, in 1996?
It wasn't, initially. You could only get this "underground" book -- more than 185,000 copies were sold, pre-mainstream publication -- through gun-shops and other locations where "gun fanatics," "rednecks" and others of that ilk, hung out.
Oren J. Teicher, President of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression offers a compelling reason for this hateful book's mainstream (well, as mainstream as something this vile can be) publication: "As outrageous as the content of The Turner Diaries may be, we believe that even offensive and objectionable material is protected by the First Amendment. In fact, as you certainly understand, we do not need a First Amendment to protect the popular and non-controversial; it is the unpopular and controversial that requires our vigilance. . . I'd suggest [that we, as free people,]. . . expose and debate those [objectionable] ideas in a concerted effort to make certain that the truth emerges."
I, as a fiction writer, read this for research purposes.
I'll judge this book on two levels, plot/writing-ability, and its propagandist content. This review contains plot-spoilers.
This is (mostly) written in personal-journal form. The person writing the journal is Earl Turner, a thirty-five year old electrical engineer. He's a hardcore hater, part of an ineffective racialist group called the Organization. The Organization is barely getting by, financially and recruitment-wise.
The diary starts on September 16, 1991 (aka, 8 BNE, whichs stands for "Before New Era").
Time passes, things change. Turner gets a girlfriend, Katherine (a White sister-in-arms, always written about in glowing terms), and the group becomes more effective. By mid-1993, the Organization's acts of "strategic sabotage" (nationwide bombings, assassinations, counterfeiting, and other "operations") are severely undermining the daily life of the average, panicked American (who, of course, is White).
By 1999 (the year the New Era begins) the Organization is controlling southern California, particularly Los Angeles, where "race traitors" (those who worked with, or supported non-Whites and Jews) are being hung from light poles and traffic lights. Any surviving non-Whites and Jews are being marched eastward, en masse, outside southern Calfornia, so as to flood/burden the other states with non-Whites (and thereby foment the seeds of discord towards non-Whites, getting new "recruits" in the process).
It's not long before an international and civil nuclear war ensues. By late 1999, the Organization, with help from other White Power groups (notably, The Order), have dominated the world -- with the exception of China.
The first half of the book is decently-written, pacing- and character-wise (when it comes to Whites). Turner comes off as recognizably human, if an extreme/racist idealogue: he constantly attributes rape and cannibalism exclusively to Blacks, and treachery, media manipulation and greed to the Jews -- these two latter groups, who are the main, gleefully-dispatched targets of Turner's violence, don't get a voice in this story. Why would they? This is a hate tract, after all.
After the first half of the book, the story becomes a White Power fantasy where the world is forced to acknowledge the domination of the "enlightened," "educated" White racialists.
The nuclear war scenario is ridiculous. Given the number of missiles fired, and their targets, the earth would be uninhabitable; yet in Pierce's tract, only a small number of the White racialists are killed in the what-should've-been-planet-killing firestorm.
Nauseating cost of "freedom of expression", this. (Thankfully, most of us can avoid this book, so it's a relatively small one.)
Showing posts with label William Pierce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William Pierce. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, by Michael Moynihan & Didrik SØderlind
(hb; 1998, 2003: non-fiction)
From the back cover:
"At the close of the last millennium, more than 100 churches in Europe were torched and desecrated by adherents of Black Metal, the most extreme form of underground music on the planet. In an escalating uholy war, Black Metal bands and their obsessive fans have left a grim legacy of suicide, murder, and terrorism that continues to spread from Norway to Germany, Finland, America, and beyond. . .
"Written by two journalists with unique access to the hellish demimonde, the acclaimed Lords of Chaos has now been revised and expanded, with startling new revelations. This award-winning exposé features hundreds of rare photos and exclusive interrogations with priests, police officers, Satanists, and leaders of demonic bands who believe the greater evil spawns the greatest glory."
Review:
A good friend, Gary Russell, turned me onto this non-fiction book nine years ago, but I finally, after getting distracted by so much other stuff, got around to reading it: thanks, Gary!
This is one of the best true-crime books I've ever read. Authors Didrik SØderlind and Michael Moynihan have composed a level-headed, fascinating account of the Black Metal suicides, murders and ancient church burnings that took place in Norway (and in other countries) in the early 1990s (and, to a limited degree, to this day).
One of the reasons why Lords of Chaos works so well is that the authors have, for the most part, adopted a non-judgmental attitude towards the people involved -- that includes hangers-on, police officers, and those who perpetrated the crimes, like: Per Yngve Ohlin (aka, Dead, vocalist for Mayhem, who blew his head off with a shotgun in April 1992); several members of the highly-regarded Black Metal band, Emperor, who continue to put out music today; Hendrik Möbus (of the band Absurd, who was also convicted of a Black Metal murder, and briefly found refuge from the German police in the States with William Pierce, founder of the racialist group the National Alliance, and author of notorious racist tract The Turner Diaries); Bård "Faust" Eithun (drummer of the aforementioned band, Emperor, who, in August 1992, stabbed a homosexual pedestrian to death); and Kristian "Varg" Vikerenes (aka, Varg Qisling LarssØn Vikerenes, aka, Count Grishnackh), founder of the one-man band, Burzum, who, in August 1993, stabbed and killed Øystein Aarseth (aka, Euronymous, of the band Mayhem, and owner of the Black Metal music store, Helvete).
Vikerenes's comments make up much of the interview sections. As a motormouth and founder of the religious organization, Norwegian Heathen Front (aka, NHS), he was part of the "Black Circle" (a phrase used to describe many of the Black Metallers who hung out at Øystein Aarseth's store Helvete, where Aarseth recorded and sold albums, including Burzum/Vikerenes's); also, Vikernes, who has a hate-hate relationship with the media (who love to interview him, because of the s**t he spouts), has evolved, belief-wise: he's disdainful of his early satanic Black Metal work -- it seems he's more into his later, dark Ambient Electronica work, which is heavily influenced by neo-Nazi/skinhead propaganda, heathenism (with a heavy emphasis on Odinism, which is anti-Christian), and grim Norwegian Black Metal steadfastness (which seems, on the surface, to be humorless).
SØderlind and Moynihan also trace the beginnings of Black Metal, to English and American bands like Venom, Bathory and Slayer (who, aside from their early occult themes, are actually are more speed-metal) -- the phrase Black Metal actually stems from Venom's second album of the same name, which came out in 1982. One of the main things that differientiates these bands from the later Noregian and Swedish bands is that the American/English bands were using their Satanic, often-nonsensical themes as sensationalistic window-dressing. At heart, they were regular, law-abiding people who were trying stir s**t up, get recognized (at that point in their careers).
It's that lack of sensationalism that ultimately propels Lords of Chaos into greatness. These events and personalities are dramatic enough to sell themselves, and all SØderlind and Moynihan had to do, writing-wise, was research it and put it down on paper without flourish -- in recognizing that and doing so, SØderlind and Moynihan have written a timeless true crime tome that remains relevant today.
Disturbing, informative time capsule book with (no doubt) echoes of our future -- hopefully only in a fringe, limited sense.
Read it, already.
From the back cover:
"At the close of the last millennium, more than 100 churches in Europe were torched and desecrated by adherents of Black Metal, the most extreme form of underground music on the planet. In an escalating uholy war, Black Metal bands and their obsessive fans have left a grim legacy of suicide, murder, and terrorism that continues to spread from Norway to Germany, Finland, America, and beyond. . .
"Written by two journalists with unique access to the hellish demimonde, the acclaimed Lords of Chaos has now been revised and expanded, with startling new revelations. This award-winning exposé features hundreds of rare photos and exclusive interrogations with priests, police officers, Satanists, and leaders of demonic bands who believe the greater evil spawns the greatest glory."
Review:
A good friend, Gary Russell, turned me onto this non-fiction book nine years ago, but I finally, after getting distracted by so much other stuff, got around to reading it: thanks, Gary!
This is one of the best true-crime books I've ever read. Authors Didrik SØderlind and Michael Moynihan have composed a level-headed, fascinating account of the Black Metal suicides, murders and ancient church burnings that took place in Norway (and in other countries) in the early 1990s (and, to a limited degree, to this day).
One of the reasons why Lords of Chaos works so well is that the authors have, for the most part, adopted a non-judgmental attitude towards the people involved -- that includes hangers-on, police officers, and those who perpetrated the crimes, like: Per Yngve Ohlin (aka, Dead, vocalist for Mayhem, who blew his head off with a shotgun in April 1992); several members of the highly-regarded Black Metal band, Emperor, who continue to put out music today; Hendrik Möbus (of the band Absurd, who was also convicted of a Black Metal murder, and briefly found refuge from the German police in the States with William Pierce, founder of the racialist group the National Alliance, and author of notorious racist tract The Turner Diaries); Bård "Faust" Eithun (drummer of the aforementioned band, Emperor, who, in August 1992, stabbed a homosexual pedestrian to death); and Kristian "Varg" Vikerenes (aka, Varg Qisling LarssØn Vikerenes, aka, Count Grishnackh), founder of the one-man band, Burzum, who, in August 1993, stabbed and killed Øystein Aarseth (aka, Euronymous, of the band Mayhem, and owner of the Black Metal music store, Helvete).
Vikerenes's comments make up much of the interview sections. As a motormouth and founder of the religious organization, Norwegian Heathen Front (aka, NHS), he was part of the "Black Circle" (a phrase used to describe many of the Black Metallers who hung out at Øystein Aarseth's store Helvete, where Aarseth recorded and sold albums, including Burzum/Vikerenes's); also, Vikernes, who has a hate-hate relationship with the media (who love to interview him, because of the s**t he spouts), has evolved, belief-wise: he's disdainful of his early satanic Black Metal work -- it seems he's more into his later, dark Ambient Electronica work, which is heavily influenced by neo-Nazi/skinhead propaganda, heathenism (with a heavy emphasis on Odinism, which is anti-Christian), and grim Norwegian Black Metal steadfastness (which seems, on the surface, to be humorless).
SØderlind and Moynihan also trace the beginnings of Black Metal, to English and American bands like Venom, Bathory and Slayer (who, aside from their early occult themes, are actually are more speed-metal) -- the phrase Black Metal actually stems from Venom's second album of the same name, which came out in 1982. One of the main things that differientiates these bands from the later Noregian and Swedish bands is that the American/English bands were using their Satanic, often-nonsensical themes as sensationalistic window-dressing. At heart, they were regular, law-abiding people who were trying stir s**t up, get recognized (at that point in their careers).
It's that lack of sensationalism that ultimately propels Lords of Chaos into greatness. These events and personalities are dramatic enough to sell themselves, and all SØderlind and Moynihan had to do, writing-wise, was research it and put it down on paper without flourish -- in recognizing that and doing so, SØderlind and Moynihan have written a timeless true crime tome that remains relevant today.
Disturbing, informative time capsule book with (no doubt) echoes of our future -- hopefully only in a fringe, limited sense.
Read it, already.
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