Traces the history of bigotry and racism in the United States and looks at key individuals, including Senator McCarthy and Louis Farrakhan
Gr 6-9 Beginning with Samuel Parris, the original Salem witch-hunter, Streissguth covers individual American leaders who used inflammatory language to incite violence against their enemies. While clearly opposed to all of their positions, the author's readable approach is well balanced with understandabledescriptions of social conditions that led people to support these demagogic politicians. To his credit, he forthrightly faces the question of whether Louis Farrakhan is a demagogue or a responsible leader, though he dismisses skinheads and neo-Nazigroups as lacking visible national leadership. The well-captioned, black-and-white reproductions and photographs add atmosphere to the text. The bibliography cites authoritative sources. For a slightly older audience, Susan Lang's ExtremistGroups in America (Watts, 1990) and Michael Kronenwetter's United They Hate (Walker, 1992) both focus on social forces and groups, and include considerably more information. Lang's book is more of a current catalog of groups, while Kronenwetter'sprovides longer-term perspective and deeper explanations. John Langone's Spreading Poison (Little, 1993) covers racism and prejudice with much more passion than Streissguth displays. Hatemongers will be more useful to students of American historythan to those curious about present-day trends.ćJonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Edmonds, WA Copyright 1998 School Library Journal Reviews
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