i’ll start by mentioning that this book is throughly researched, with some sources being correspondence between schmaltz and ex anp members which i found eye opening and valuable for additional context. i also appreciated that schmaltz mentioned several women who were in support of or directly aided the anp, because racism is never just men’s business. however, i had a lot of gripes with this:

• schmaltz fails to mention how cointelpro targeted the black panther party (most notably fred hampton) the sncc, environmentalist groups, united farm workers, and more. this felt like copaganda to me because even though it’s clearly shown how the fbi planted things and meddled in affairs (this also didn’t really end up leaving a lasting impact) to break up the anp they were doing the same to other non white supremacist groups probably at the same time • in a book about neo nazis obviously racial slurs are gonna be present but i felt that schmaltz was a lil too trigger happy because he straight up spelled out the full n word more times than i can count (and obviously rockwell, his supporters, and anp members said it more than anyone can possibly count). this in addition to his constant use of “blacks” really put me off and it’s strange bc in some sections he says african americans. just saying “blacks” or “a black” is dehumanizing and while this is very common even in academic writing it’s one of my pet peeves so ima call it out everytime • after the first few chapters the tone gets really monotonous, i genuinely felt like i was being shown basic powerpoint slides or just being read items off a list. soooo many sections in the later part of the book were just “on (insert date here) rockwell did this met with this person and got fined this much money and protested this thing at this arena” or “on (insert date here) rockwell gave a speech at (insert college here) with 1500 students in attendance some laughed some bood rockwell collected his fee then left” and so on. literally just copy paste it was giving lazy and lacked finesse • some dialogue seemed embellished, which i’m not a fan of • schmaltz presents a one sided and over generalized view of the black power movement, quoting people who viewed it more in a negative light and completely dropping the ball on nuance

these are the main issues i could think of if i have more to add i’ll edit this but i want to shift gears now to talk about what really bothered me over the course of reading this. in plenty of instances rockwell is enabled and protected by judges, academics, the aclu and even some jewish people under the guise of “free speech”. he was invited to colleges all over the country, he was given permits (though not always) to speak in certain spaces, because people defended his “right” to do so. he had nothin to offer but hate speech and conspiracies. racism is inherently violent and this isn’t apparent exclusively in language but also the actions that follow. several anp members and rockwell himself got into fights due to his rhetoric. he was driving around in a “hate bus”, comparing black people to animals and saying nigger left and right, denying the holocaust, and more. some argued that everyone has a right to speak and be heard even if people disagree, and that if we suppress his speech then the speech of others will be suppressed too which sets a dangerous precedent. i’m not hearing none of that ima be real. the dehumanization of black people through language, art, and state sanctioned violence has proven to be fatal as we continue to see 400+ years after slavery. black people are still being lynched, we also see the dangers of anti immigrant sentiments (also racism). what’s even more concerning, is that rockwell’s ideology persists. books a million and barnes & noble literally sell his books along with the turner diaries which if you aren’t aware, was the core text for a white nationalist group called “the order” and it inspired timothy mcveigh. i saw a video on youtube (might have been ai tho tbf who knows anymore) of rockwell speaking and i saw comments just as recent as a few months ago praising him, and commenting “⚡️⚡️” “\o” . his books are also highly rated (shocker). i’m just sad, angry, and exhausted. the legacy of white supremacy and racism in america cannot be overstated. it’s also imperative to understand that because of this legacy:

1. fascism is not foreign to america rockwell was proof of that (in addition to the german american bund)
2. that the american flag is no different from nazi flags in what they represent and call to.

when you look at american history through a critical lens you see how close it is to nazi germany. just to name a few; genocide, eugenics, racial discrimination, forced labor, human trafficking, colonialism

edits: rewording, added a couple things