Book Review: Gods of the Blood by Mattias Gardell

Required reading in the subject

A bit of personal background before I review this book.  I grew up in Mc Minnville, Oregon, during the 1970s and early 1980s.  I was probably the only Latino in the school system at that time.  Oregon at that time was very white and racist.  There was a huge skinhead movement in Portland and it was only recently that the laws against Asians other non-whites had been repealed.  When I was a freshman in High School, a white guy named D. Bundy pinned me against the door of the firehouse with his car in a racist attack.  When I reported it to the police (around the corner in fact), they got "right on it" (read: didn't do a thing).   A teacher of mine in sixth grade (last name Prewitt) kept his classroom segregated with the Asians and the single black student sitting on a table of their own (which he never went to).  Somehow I got to sit on the center table in those days but not with the blond hair and blue eyed four students he put on the head table.  

Luckily, this is as bad as I experienced in the racism of old time America, however, it left me with a lifelong interest, almost obsession, to 'keep an eye' on White Supremacists which were people who's avowed purpose in life was to kill me and everyone who looked like me.  

I have since learned that most of these folks are plain lunatics and have little power to carry out their threats, and when they do go "lone wolf", they usually attack randomly. 

Anyway, since those days, I have read voraciously on The Third Reich and about radical right movements.  This book was one that I've been meaning to read for some time, but only just got around to it.  

Gardell's book is simply required reading for anyone interested in neo-nazis, white separatism, and the radical right.  The book is old and therefore dated in the individuals and organizations that are discussed.  However, since the "fearless leaders" in the white movements, as well as the movements themselves, behave pretty much the same now as they did then, Gardell's conclusions are fully relevant.   I would go so far as to say that this book should be read by any and all politicians and law enforcement personnel who may come into contact with white nationalists.

Gardell is coming at his subject from the viewpoint of neo-paganism.  The first half of the book discusses various white nationalists and their movements, but the second half goes into a long discussion of the ideologies of the different neo-pagan movements which influence the radical right. 

The second half of the book, which gets a bit 'heavy' in a scholarly way, goes into detail about various neo-pagan belief systems.  Wicca and Druidism are discussed, however, since these movements tend not to be racially motivated or used for racist motivation (except for a few bad apples), Gardell quickly moves on to other topics.  Satanism, Odinism, Wotanism, and Asatru are discussed, discussing the various levels of radicalism in each. 

Gardell is very level minded and approaches his topic openly, questioning watchdog groups such as the SPLC and the conclusions of other groups about how much of a threat these groups really are.  Gardell is not witchhunting and when he thinks that certain people or movements are 'mostly harmless', he says so.

The last chapter in which he discusses his conclusions are especially important.  Gardell defines white nationalists and puts them into perspective in a precise and intelligent manner.  His conclusions about where the leadership of white nationalism comes from, the interrelationship of non-mainstream beliefs, and how white nationalism is related to an idea of lost 'white privilege' and class standing with the onset of multiculturalism and globalism is conclusive.