Author | William Luther Pierce (as Andrew Macdonald) |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | 1978 |
Genre | Political novel |
Published | 1978 (National Vanguard Books) |
Media type | |
LC Class | PS3563.A2747 |
Followed by | Hunter |
The Turner Diaries is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce (founder of the white nationalist organization National Alliance), published under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald".The Turner Diaries depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, nuclear war, and, ultimately, a race war. All groups opposed by the author, such as Jews, gays, and non-whites, are exterminated. The book was described as "explicitly racist and anti-Semitic" by The New York Times and has been labeled a "bible of the racist right" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
As a cultural artifact, The Turner Diaries is political fiction that presents the means by which white nationalism (white separatism, eugenics, etc.) can be established with a race war against the perceived non-white enemies of the nation.
The narrative starts with a foreword set in 2099, one hundred years after the events depicted. The bulk of the book quotes the recently discovered diary of a man named Earl Turner, an active member of the white revolutionary movement that caused these events. The book details a violent, apocalyptic overthrow of the United States federal government (referred to throughout the book as "the System") by Turner and his militant comrades in a brutal race war that takes place first in North America, and then the rest of the world.
The story starts soon after the federal government has confiscated all civilian firearms in the country under the fictional Cohen Act. Turner and his cohorts take their organization underground to engage in a guerrilla war against the System, depicted as dominated by Jewish control. The "System" begins by implementing numerous repressive laws on various forms of hate by repealing laws against rape (as rape laws are often viewed as "racist"), by implying that gender exists on a biological level, by making it a "hate crime" for white people to defend themselves from crime by non-whites even after all weapons are confiscated, and by pushing for new surveillance measures in order to monitor its citizens, such as a special passport required at all times and in all places to permanently monitor where individuals are. The "Organization" starts its campaigns by committing acts such as the bombing of FBI headquarters, then executing an ongoing, low-level campaign of terrorism, assassination, and economic sabotage throughout the United States.