Gods of the Blood

by Gardell, Mattias

• ISBN13: 9780822330714
• ISBN10: 0822330717
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Racist paganism is a thriving but understudied element of the American religious and cultural landscape.Gods of the Bloodis the first in-depth survey of the people, ideologies, and practices that make up this fragmented yet increasingly radical and militant milieu. Over a five-year period during the 1990s Mattias Gardell observed and participated in pagan ceremonies and interviewed pagan activists across the United States. His unprecedented entree into this previously obscure realm is the basis for this firsthand account of the proliferating web of organizations and belief systems combining pre-Christian pagan mythologies with Aryan separatism. Gardell outlines the historical development of the different strands of racist paganism-including Wotanism, Odinism and Darkside Asatruacute;-and situates them on the spectrum of pagan belief ranging from Wicca and goddess worship to Satanism.Gods of the Blooddetails the trends that have converged to fuel militant paganism in the United States: anti-government sentiments inflamed by such events as Ruby Ridge and Waco, the rise of the white power music industry (including whitenoise, dark ambient, and hatecore), the extraordinary reach of modern communications technologies, and feelings of economic and cultural marginalization in the face of globalization and increasing racial and ethnic diversity of the American population. Gardell elucidates how racist pagan beliefs are formed out of various combinations of conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism, warrior ideology, populism, beliefs in racial separatism, Klandom, skinhead culture, and tenets of national socialism. He shows how these convictions are further animated by an array of thought selectively derived from thinkers including Nietzche, historian Oswald Spengler, Carl Jung, and racist mystics. Scrupulously attentive to the complexities of racist paganism as it is lived and practiced,Gods of the Bloodis a fascinating, disturbing, and important portrait of the virulent undercurrents of certain kinds of violence in America today.

Author Biography

Mattias Gardell is Associate Professor and Senior Researcher at the Center for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations at Stockholm University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction: Globalization, Nationalism, and the Pagan Revival	1	(32)
The Transforming Landscapes of American Racism	33	(34)
The Smorgasbord of the Revolutionary White-Racist Counterculture	67	(70)
The Pagan Revival	137	(28)
Wolf-Age Pagans: The Odinist Call of Aryan Revolutionary Paganism	165	(26)
By the Spear of Odin: The Rise of Wotansvolk	191	(67)
Ethnic Asatru	258	(26)
Hail Loki! Hail Satan! Hail Hitler! Darkside Asatru, Satanism, and Occult National Socialism	284	(40)
Globalization, Aryan Paganism, and Romantic Men with Guns	324	(21)
Notes	345	(54)
Works Cited	399	(32)
Index	431