by Leonard Zeskind
Picador USA
10/13/2026, paperback
SKU: 9781250460936
Originally published to great acclaim in 2009, Blood and Politics is an unprecedented, sweeping history of white nationalism's rise in America from a MacArthur Award-winning expert in the field.
Over decades of archival and in-person research, Leonard Zeskind explored the startling underworld of white supremacist organizations in the United States, from think tanks and publications to armed militia groups. Tracing a vast web of Holocaust deniers, Christian Identity churches, neo-Nazi skinheads, and high-profile figures like David Duke, Zeskind finds that these factions--once thought to be fringe extremists--have both deep roots and far-reaching ambitions.
Thorough, careful, and troublingly prescient, Blood and Politics is an essential study of American racism and a rallying cry for the ongoing fight against hate.
Reviews:
"For decades, every journalist and academic reeling from the latest eruption of the far right into national politics has turned first and foremost to Leonard Zeskind. Between the names, dates, and places in his unrivaled archives and the deep understanding forged in more than thirty years of research, activism, and reflection, he sees far more clearly even than the white nationalist movement itself where it has been and where it is going. Blood and Politics is a singular contribution to American history and politics. There will never be--never could be--another book like it." -- Elinor Langer, author of A Hundred Little Hitlers: The Death of a Black Man, the Trial of a White Racist, and the Rise of the Neo-Nazi Movement in America
"An authoritative tour through the shifting currents of the American radical right over the last three decades. Filled with keen insights about the interaction between this movement and historical developments shaping the larger world, Blood and Politics is a prescient warning about a movement that promises to haunt us for generations to come." -- Mark Potok, director, Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law Center
"Leonard Zeskind deserves our gratitude for his lifelong commitment to the battle against the international racist underworld. He combines the skill and zeal of the investigative reporter with the shrewd perspective of the historian. In this magisterial work, Zeskind identifies the leaders, politics, and strategies of that dangerous movement with great literary skill--and explains why the perils they represent remain alive in a new century." -- Joe Conason, author of It Can Happen Here
About the Author:
Leonard Zeskind (1949-2025) was a union organizer and community activist prior to founding the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights in 1983. He was research director of the Center for Democratic Renewal, a national clearinghouse for efforts to counter hate-group activity, and wrote widely on racism and anti-Semitism for publications such as The New York Times, The American Prospect, and The Nation. He was awarded a MacArthur "genius grant" in 1998 for his research on American hate groups.