Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity - Hardcover

Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814731244 ISBN 13: 9780814731246

Publisher: NYU Press, 2001

Synopsis

More than half a century after the defeat of Nazism and fascism, the far right is again challenging the liberal order of Western democracies. Radical movements are feeding on anxiety about economic globalization, affirmative action, and third-world immigration, flashpoint issues to many traditional groups in multicultural societies. A curious mixture of Aristocratic paganism, anti-Semitic demonology, Eastern philosophies and the occult is influencing populist antigovernment sentiment and helping to exploit the widespread fear that invisible elites are shaping world events.

Black Sun examines the new neofascist ideology, showing how hate groups, militias and conspiracy cults attempt to gain influence. Based on interviews and extensive research into underground groups, Black Sun documents the new Nazi and fascist sects that have sprung up from the 1970s through the 1990s and examines the mentality and motivation of these far-right extremists. The result is a detailed, grounded portrait of the mythical and devotional aspects of Hitler cults among Aryan mystics, racist skinheads and Nazi satanists, Heavy Metal music fans, and in occult literature.

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke offers a unique perspective on far right neo-Nazism viewing it as a new form of Western religious heresy. He paints a frightening picture of a religion with its own relics, rituals, prophecies and an international sectarian following that could, under the proper conditions, gain political power and attempt to realize its dangerous millenarian fantasies.

About this title

Product Description

Black Sun Offers a unique perspective on far right neo-Nazism viewing it as a new form of Western religious heresy Full description

Review

“Anyone who remembers the devastation wrought by Nazi fanaticism can only be astonished and dismayed by this book. Who could have foreseen that half a century after the defeat of the Third Reich the Jews would once again be perceived as a demonic power intent on destroying the ‘Aryan race’, or that Hitler would be imagined as a divine being who is about to return to earth to complete the Holocaust? For the matter, who could have foreseen that the preposterous ‘pagan’ cult developed by Heinrich Himmler would ever be revived? Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke shows not only that these things have indeed happened but how and why they have happened. He also suggests what dangers they may portend. Black Sun is both an enthralling and a deeply disturbing work. It deserves the most serious attention and a wide readership.”
-Norman Cohn,author of The Pursuit of the Millennium and Warrant for Genocide

“[An] important work.”
-Philadelphia Inquirer

“Presents a troubling picture of the mindset of the modern Far Right.”
-Library Journal

“Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke has done pioneering work in the field of the occult roots of Nazism. In the present volume he performs the same invaluable service with regard to the ideological fantasies of post war neofascism.”
-Walter Laqueur

“Excellent book provides a lucid and often chilling guide.”
-Journal of European Studies

About this edition

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0814731244
• ISBN 13: 9780814731246
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 371