Blood in the Face: The Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Nazi Skinheads, and the Rise of a New White Culture

Village Voice correspondent Ridgeway ( Powering Civilization ) traces the evolution of the ``racialist right'' in American politics up to George Bush's bid for the presidency, which, the author asserts, had the issue of race at its very foundation. With startling detail, this volume sets forth the violent histories of such organizations as the Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1866 by six former Confederate soldiers; the John Birch Society, an anti-civil rights group masquerading as an anti-Communist force; and the Posse Comitatus, whose members gather in posses to ``protect'' the white race from the scourge of Jews, blacks and other minorities. Examining their influence on the political climate of the U.S., Ridgeway profiles such leaders as David Dukes, the former head of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana who ran for the Senate in 1990. Readers may feel overwhelmed by the amount of information this fascinating book imparts, and less than smooth transitions give the work a scattered feeling. As a result, Ridgeway's conclusions--including the obvious one that with the Cold War over, race will increasingly define ``the social contours of society''--are more general than incisive. Illustrated. (Feb.)