MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

By E. Digby Baltzell

The Protestant Establishment by Baltzell provides a thought-provoking analysis of the influence of Protestantism on the socio-economic and political landscape of American society. Through detailed research and compelling arguments, Baltzell delves into the historical development and enduring impact of Protestant values on shaping the elite class in the United States. This seminal work offers a nuanced exploration of how religious beliefs intersect with power dynamics, class structures, and cultural norms in shaping the country's social hierarchy. A must-read for those interested in understanding the complex relationship between religion, privilege, and social institutions in America.

NY. Vintage Random House. 1964. 445p.

By Derek Hirst

FROM THE PREFACE: “The series of which this volume is a part is intended to provide a narrative history of modern England. A narrative is particularly suited to relating political history - all the more so, perhaps, in a period of civil war and revolution, when so many actions and initia- tives turn out to have been largely reactions to other events in a continuing crisis. Other developments too can appropriately be dis- cussed i na narrative framework. Economic depression, or works of political thought, for example, have claims to inclusion in a narrative history of the period which produced them as legitimate as those they have to inclusion in the thematic surveys in which they more frequently figure. The supremely important developments in Scotland and Ireland in this period can also be integrated. Certain enduring features of English life - social and economic, religious and intellec- tual, even political - do, however, seem unsuited to such treatment. The narrative in this book is therefore prefaced by three detailed introductory chapters which are intended to set the course of events in a broader context….”

Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press. 1986. 398p. USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP.

By Hussein Solomon

What are the factors which have made South Africa so appealing to terrorist and radical islamic organisations? What role has South Africa played within global Jihad? This book examines how South Africa has come to play a major role in global terror networks stemming from growing criminality and corruption within state structures. It also examines the interaction between local and foreign extremist elements which undermine South Africa’s security. The author brings the discussion beyond the usual mundane academic treatise to the sharp reality of the global dangers of politicised Islam – a muslim talking candidly about Islam.

Bloemfontein,  UJ Press, 2013. 149p.

By Richard Dawkins

From the introduction: “Darwinism encompasses all of life- human, animal, plant, bacterial, and, fi I am right in the last chapter of this book, extraterrestrial. It provides the only satisfying explanation forwhy we all exist, why we are the way that we are. It is t h ebedrock on which rest all t h edisciplines known as the humanities. I do not mean that history, literarycriticism, and the law should be recast in a specifically Darwinian mould. Far fromit, very far. But all human works are the products of brains, brainsare evolved data processing devices, and we shall misunderstand their works if we forget this fundamental fact. If more doctors understood Darwinism, humanity would not now be facing a crisis of antibiotic resistance. Darwinian evolution, as onereviewer has observed, 'is the most portentous natural truth that science has yet discovered'. I'd add, o'r is likely to discover.”

London. Norton. 1986. 360p. CONTAINS MARK-UP

By Margo Kitts

The Proud Boys are an opportunistic hate group whose message of white male chauvinism is infused with religious and nationalist symbols. They fit into the global trend of religious nationalism in that they are driven by a reaction to religious pluralism, entertain atavistic yearnings, and celebrate a founding hero, Donald Trump. Enthralled with fistfighting, in both their initiatory rituals and their engagements with antifa groups, they delight in offending the genteel sensibilities they associate with the “white liberal elite.” They are proudly antiSemitic, Islamophobic, and anti-feminist, but their list of enemies appears to be ever shifting, suggesting a toxic virility run amuck. While they are but one expression of an enduring European-American chauvinism, their celebration of masculinity resembles the masculinism and misogyny that arose in response to the Victorian era in the US.

Journal of Religion and Violence 8:3, 2020.

Edited by Stephen C. Finley, Biko Mandela Gray, and Lori Latrice Martin

Critically analyses the historical, cultural and political dimensions of white religious rage in America, past and present

• Argues that religion and race – not economics – are the primary motivating factors for the rise of white rage and white supremacist sentiment in the USA

• Makes key interventions in labour studies and American religious studies

• Examines the mythological and sociological construct of the 'white labourer'

• Uncovers the sociological and religious origins of white anxiety

• Uses the perspectives of theory and method in religious studies, affect studies and critical whiteness studies

• Shows that white rage is a phenomenon that moves in and through the institutional legitimation of certain forms of white expression and engagement, both 'liberal' and 'conservative'

This book sheds light on the phenomenon of white rage, and maps out the uneasy relationship between white anxiety, religious fervour, American identity and perceived black racial progress. Contributors to the volume examine the sociological construct of the 'white labourer', whose concerns and beliefs can be understood as religious in foundation. They uncover that white religious fervor correlates to notions of perceived white loss and perceived black progress.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020. 360p.

By George Washington University, Program on Extremism

This report evaluates violent extremism inspired by or connected to the Black Hebrew Israelite (BHI) movement. Black Hebrew Israelites ascribe to the idea that modern-day African Americans are the descendants of the Israelites in the Old Testament of the Bible. However, an extremist fringe within the movement takes this idea one step further, arguing that white Europeans are the descendants of Satan and that white Jews are impostors. Situating the role of extremist interpretations of BHI ideology within domestic violent extremist incidents during the past several years, this report finds: ● Like other domestic violent extremist movements in the contemporary American landscape, Black Hebrew Israelite violent extremism has undergone a transformation over the past twenty years. The predominant threat today is from individuals loosely affiliated with or inspired by the movement rather than by groups, organizations, or institutions. ● Today’s violent extremists with a nexus to Black Hebrew Israelite extremism are usually not formal participants in any Black Hebrew Israelite organization, church, or group. They usually interpolate aspects of Black Hebrew Israelite ideology—particularly the idea that white Jews are impostors—into a personally-curated mix of viewpoints and ideologies that inspire violence. ● Despite ongoing controversy about how to classify domestic violent extremists who are motivated by racial ideologies but are not white supremacists, the “racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism” (RMVE) category used by federal law enforcement in the U.S. remains an apt descriptor for Black Hebrew Israelite violent extremists. ● Using the RMVE label for Black Hebrew Israelites yields important comparisons between this movement and other RMVE actors, particularly white supremacist violent extremists. Notably, Black Hebrew Israelite violent extremists and their white supremacist counterparts often share similar ideologies and core conspiracy theories, are examples of the role of religious ideas in domestic violent extremist movements, and often choose similar targets for attacks due to their mutual anti-Semitism.

Washington, DC: George Washington University, Program on Extremism, 2022. 21p.

By Sana Ashraf

In the past decade, Pakistan has witnessed incidents such as the public lynching of a student on a university campus, a Christian couple being torched alive, attacks on entire neighbourhoods by angry mobs and the assassination of a provincial governor by his own security guard over allegations of blasphemy. Finding the Enemy Within unpacks the meanings and motivations behind accusations of blasphemy and subsequent violence in Pakistan. This is the first ethnographic study of its kind analysing the perspectives of a range of different actors including accusers, religious scholars and lawyers involved in blasphemy-related incidents in Pakistan. Bringing together anthropological perspectives on religion, violence and law, this book reworks prevalent analytical dichotomies of reason/emotion, culture/religion, traditional/Western, state/nonstate and legal/extralegal to extend our understanding of the upsurge of blasphemy-related violence in Pakistan. Through the case study of blasphemy accusations in Pakistan, this book addresses broader questions of difference, individual and collective identities, social and symbolic boundaries, and conflict and violence in modern nation-states.

Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2021. 270p.

Edited by Stephen C. Finley, Biko Mandela Gray, and Lori Latrice Martin

Religious Fervor, White Workers and the Myth of Black Racial Progress. This book sheds light on the phenomenon of white rage, and maps out the uneasy relationship between white anxiety, religious fervour, American identity and perceived black racial progress. Contributors to the volume examine the sociological construct of the 'white labourer', whose concerns and beliefs can be understood as religious in foundation. They uncover that white religious fervor correlates to notions of perceived white loss and perceived black progress .

Edinburgh University Press. 2020. 328p.