https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2768-9958
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ABSTRACT
Books are a recognized but insufficiently researched means for dissemination of ideologies, including by far-right violent extremists. Considering that the far-right are early and effective adopters of new communication technology, this article explores how digital publication and circulation of books can both enable and direct a known potential pathway to radicalization to extremism: the ‘intellectual quest’. This article explores the publication history and commercial circulation of novels by self-identified American neo-Nazis William L. Pierce and Harold A. Covington, which have been linked to planning and acts of violence both in the U.S.A. and elsewhere, and how commercial algorithms direct potential purchasers to ideologically adjacent material. We argue that digital book publishing and circulation have particular affordances for articulating, amplifying and normalizing violent extremist ideologies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Written under the pseudonym Roman McClay.
2. Originally published under the pseudonym Andrew MacDonald.
3. Widely available in the Internet, for instance: https://archive.org/details/americafirstreadinglist.
4. The National Alliance also produced other media including radio, magazines, cassettes and later CDs and video games.
6. Dixon’s novel, and the film adaptation, contributed significantly to the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the twentieth century (Rogin 1985).
7. Henty was considered reactionary even by his contemporaries (McMahon 2010).
8. It is also on Project Gutenberg.
9. Searching for ‘James Mason Siege’ on Amazon offers up a slew of accelerationist and other far-right material even though the book itself is not sold there.
10. We do not suggest that the more than 20 authors of the books recommended by the algorithm, including those whose work we discuss below, hold extremist views or advocate violence.
11. The comma in Rawles’ name is deliberate on his part. Odd punctuation is often used in the sovereign citizens movement.
12. We have been unable to independently verify Rawles’ figures, but there is independent evidence online of the existence of the early editions as described by him in 2009.
14. We have chosen not to provide links to avoid driving traffic to these sites.