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Rating: 
Summary: Detailed, Well Written, Excellent
Review: An excellent, detailed textbook style examination of the radical right, in all its manifestations. Of all the books I've read on the right, and I've read a few, this one is the best. Carefully crafted and scholarly, Ridgeway pulls no punches. He gives detailed explanations of the history, origins and rhetoric of the KKK, The Posse Comitatus, The American Nazi Party and many related right wing haters. He makes copious use of the rights own pamphlets and speeches to reveal their twisted belief systems, and the book is full of pictures and even includes exerts of the infamous Turner Diaries. Well written and readable the book is also a gripping page-turner and will definitely keep you interested until the end. My only gripe is with the final chapter, which is unduly alarmist. It is true that the radical right is active and that they are a danger to society, but I am not convinced by the notion that there values are more acceptable in society than they have been in the past. Was Bull Conner an outcast in his time? Is David Duke more important politically than George Wallace was? Has the KKK been able to defeat a presidential candidate in modern times the way they defeated Al Smith? I also found the suggestion that Madonna and Tom Petty of all people are spreading racist propaganda to be laughable. Further the notion that opposition to affirmative action is evidence of a racist mindset is absurd, and revealing of the authors 'liberal' bias. Affirmative action is not only a racist notion, based as it is on the idea that minorities need special help to succeed, but also has given aid and comfort to the racist cause. Racists can point to Affirmative Action as proof of their own beliefs. That being said, the ideological quirks of the author do not detract from the excellence of his scholarship. As a detailed explanation of the radical right across the broad spectrum, the book is peerless. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating & sad introduction into the racist culture
Review: Like so many other things in today's society, racism, and especially racially motivated crimes, seem very distant to most of us. An occasional tasteless joke around the water cooler may be the closest 99% of us get to the terrifying world of the racist underground.Many books have tried to reverse this ignorance, but many (if not most) have failed. The reason is simple: Hundreds of pages of text don't bring us any closer to the scenes of the crimes, or closer to the people who are either involved in the white supremist movement or who have been affected by it. But "Blood in the Face" is different. It has graphics on almost every page, mostly White Aryan Resistance (WAR) propaganda posters, and less frequently photos of David Duke, Henry Ford, and other well-known racists and anti-Semites, threatening letters, etc. This is also a primary-source-laden text. This serves to hammer home the point that racism does not just exist in the Deep South. It is EVERYWHERE: South, North, East, West, and especially in the minds of those who perpetuate such garbage every day. That said, this book is an INTRODUCTION to the culture of white supremacy. It dwells on the surface of the culture and selected individual organizations, occasionally delving into history. But it doesn't do a good job at all of providing a CONTEXT for the terrible things it describes. "Blood in the Face" is a solid introduction for those looking to learn more about racism and the white supremacy movement as a whole, but for discussions of individual people and groups, you must look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A chilling and timely look at white supremacist movements
Review: The Oklahoma city bombing and FBI/Freeman confrontation in Montana have focused renewed attention on the dangers posed by white supremacist and anti-government movements in the U.S. In "Blood in the Face", Village Voice reporter James Ridgeway traces the origins of such movements, from the rise of the infamous KKK, to the creation of lesser known, but increasingly more threatening groups such as Aryan Nations, White Aryan Resistance, and the Posse Comitatus. While the book has a fascinating narrative, its greatest asset comes in the form of racist cartoons and propaganda taken from various groups, giving the reader a painful, but important lesson in understanding the perverted mentality that drives these movements. When the book shows a map of one group's desire to divide the people of the United States into regions determined by racial status, the reader realizes that this is a threat worth keeping an eye on
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