by Tony McAleer
Arsenal Pulp Press
11/5/2019, paperback
SKU: 9781551527697
How does an affluent, middle-class, private-school-attending son of a doctor end up at the Aryan Nations compound in Idaho, falling in with and then recruiting for some of the most notorious neo-Nazi groups in Canada and the United States? The Cure for Hate paints a very human picture of a young man who craved attention, acceptance, and approval and the dark place he would go to get it. Tony McAleer found an outlet for his teenage rage in the street violence of the skinhead scene. He then grew deeply involved in the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), rising through the ranks to become a leader, and embraced technology and the budding internet to bring white nationalist propaganda into the digital age. After fifteen years in the movement, it was the outpouring of love he felt at the birth of his children that inspired him to start questioning his hateful beliefs. Thus began the spiritual journey of personal transformation that enabled him to disengage from the highest levels of the white power movement.
This incisive book breaks commonly held stereotypes and delivers valuable insights into how regular people are drawn to violent extremism, how the ideology takes hold, and the best ways to help someone leave hate behind. In his candid and introspective memoir, Tony shares his perspective gleaned from over a thousand hours of therapy, group work, and facilitating change in others that reveals the deeper psychological causes behind racism. At a period in history when instances of racial violence are on the upswing, The Cure for Hate demonstrates that in a society frighteningly divided by hate and in need of healing, perhaps atonement, forgiveness, and most importantly, radical compassion is the cure.
Reviews:
"Tony McAleer is a very brave man. In this book, he shares his journey of healing from hate, and offers the rest of us a radical vision of compassion for both self and others." --Michael Kimmel, author of Healing from Hate: How Young Men Get into--and Out of--Violent Extremism
"In an age when it's become easier than ever to fear, loathe, and dismiss the 'other, ' Tony's story is a much-needed ray of hope. Tony graciously, honestly teaches us that although hatred buries empathy, it does not kill it -- and that even people who seem totally lost are human beings underneath, capable of redemption and compassion." --Jamil Zaki, author of The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World
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