women and white power in the united states

white women have defined, upheld, and reified the white power movement in the US from day one. if you’re a white woman, this is your history.

these are primarily academic history, political science and philosophy books used for research during my MA in history. consequently they may be a bit dense and/or dry to the casual reader.

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created by leylines

last updated August, 2026

133

19 books

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Mothers of Massive Resistance: White Women and the Politics of White Supremacy

Elizabeth Gillespie McRae

Esther's Army: The Christian Women Who Power the American Right

Katie Gaddini

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Kristin Kobes Du Mez

They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South

Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color

Ruby Hamad

Right-Wing Women

Andrea Dworkin

Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made

Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Field Guide to White Supremacy

Kathleen Belew

Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan During Reconstruction

Elaine Frantz Parsons

Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching

Crystal N. Feimster

The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization

Eviane Leidig

The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition

Linda Gordon

Inside Organized Racism: Women in the Hate Movement

Kathleen M. Blee

Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s

Nicole Hemmer

American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate

Pete Simi

Far-Right Vanguard: The Radical Roots of Modern Conservatism

John S. Huntington

Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s

Kathleen M. Blee

White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race

Ian F. Haney-López

Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America

Kathleen Belew

Comments

leylinesOP

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Edited

recommendations welcome! since i’m no longer in school i’m not as up-to-date with new releases in the field as i once was.

grassangels

men wore the hoods but it was women who sewed them 👏👏👏 brilliant list

leylinesOP

EXACTLY!!! and thank you!!

missjane

You should add They Were Her Property by Stephanie E Jones-Rogers

leylinesOP

oh adding!! i think one of my friends used that in her research, it sounds sooo familiar.

missjane

I bought it way back in 2020 so i haven't read it myself yet lol but my goal is this year!!

nezuu

oof fantastic list!

leylinesOP

thank you nez!!

dorouu

White Tears, Brown Scars would be perfect for this list! Tho maybe a bit more contemporary?

leylinesOP

ooh going to check it out! thank you!! def open to any and all contemporary works—as white power continues to grow the scholarship on it must too!

mmyth

I'm reading White Tears/Brown Scars and it mentioned a book called Mothers of Massive Resistance that might be perfect on this list.

leylinesOP

ooh yes i actually used that in my research in grad school, idk how i forgot about it!! thank you!

mmyth

Oh that makes me look forward to reading it!

ChengBogdani

Great list!!!

leylinesOP

thank you!!

Chefboibex

Amazing list! Have you considered right wing women by Andrea dworkin? I’ll confess I haven’t read it yet but I’ve had it recommended to me so many times

leylinesOP

ooh i haven’t read it, i’ll take a peek to confirm but it seems like it belongs here! thank you!

alexindex

Arlie Hochschild also wrote the wonderful "Strangers In Their Own Land" about right wing working class people in Louisiana, including women. Not sure if it would fit onto this list.

leylinesOP

i’ll take a look at it! but adding to my tbr regardless 👀