Wednesday, October 9, 5 PM: Book Talk with Spencer Sunshine: "Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege"
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TALK DESCRIPTION:
Spencer Sunshine: "Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege"
Spencer Sunshine will talk about his new book Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege. Based on five years of research, it chronicles the development of today’s most notorious neo-Nazi terrorist manual, James Mason’s Siege. Mason’s book praises terrorism, serial killers, and Charles Manson. Siege was the “bible” of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist group, and has inspired at least a dozen murders—and counting.
Sunshine's talk will describe how Mason’s vision arose from debates among 1970s neo-Nazis who splintered off the American Nazi Party/NSWPP and spun off a terrorist faction. The second part reveals how four 1980s countercultural figures—industrial and neofolk musicians Boyd Rice and Michael Moynihan, Feral House publisher Adam Parfrey, and Satanist Nikolas Schreck—discovered, promoted, and published Mason. A number of those documented—including Keith Stimely, whose papers are housed at the U of O—lived in Oregon in the 1990s, and make up part of its history as a home for White Supremacists and Holocaust Deniers.
BIO:
Spencer Sunshine has been researching the Far Right for 20 years. He holds a PhD in Sociology and has written for outlets such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, Daily Beast, Truthout, and The Forward. Sunshine is the author of the organizing guide 40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists (PopMob, 2020) and, most recently, Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege (Routledge, 2024).
BOOK ENDORSEMENTS:
“Spellbinding in a revolting yet masterful way.”
—Chip Berlet, co-author of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort
“Spencer Sunshine’s Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism is a tour de force of research which sheds light on the previously ignored intersection of American neo-Nazism and esotericism.”
— Michael Barkun, author of A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America
“Spencer Sunshine’s new book Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism is crucial for understanding America’s contemporary white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements. It teases out the largely unexplored history of this movement’s last 50 years, and provides the definitive account of how James Mason’s Siege became the leading tome for today’s far right extremists. The book is filled with details from the movement’s major and minor players, much of which has never been documented. This is a must read for those who want to understand our country’s history of white supremacy and the nature of the movement today.”
—Heidi Beirich, co-founder, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism
“Sunshine has written the definitive book that exposes and links the old guard of American neo-Nazism to the modern day (and beyond) wave of white-power terrorism. A fascinating read!
—Christian Picciolini, author of White American Youth: My Descent Into America’s Most Violent Hate Movement—and How I Got Out
“It is rare to find a study that combines grassroots anti-fascist research with the tools of scholarly analysis. Spencer Sunshine’s detailed and discerning book examines neo-Nazism as a social movement and takes seemingly obscure ideas seriously, bringing critical attention to the history of countercultural crossover with the radical right. Anybody concerned with the incongruous resurgence of supposedly fringe political phenomena will learn sobering lessons from this book.”
—Peter Staudenmaier, Marquette University, USA
“The deepest dive yet into the godfather of modern neo-Nazi terrorism, told through the rare lens of James Mason’s own writings. This book is essential reading to those hoping to understand the origins and nuances of violent right-wing extremism today.”
—Jared Holt, Senior Research Analyst, Institute for Strategic Dialogue