Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism by Seyward Darby

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism
Author: Seyward Darby
Release Date: 7.21.20
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Goodreads Summary:
A revealing, unsettling portrait of white nationalism, told through the lives of three women whose experiences with far-right extremism offer a new understanding of America today.

After the election of Donald J. Trump, journalist Seyward Darby went looking for the women of the so-called alt-right--really just white nationalism with a new label. The mainstream media depicted the alt-right as a bastion of angry white men, but was it? As women headlined resistance to the Trump administration's bigotry and sexism, most notably at the women's marches, Darby wanted to know why others were joining a movement espousing racism and anti-feminism. Who were these women, and what did their activism reveal about America's past, present, and future?

Darby researched dozens of women across the country before settling on three: Corinna Olsen, Ayla Stewart, and Lana Lokteff. Each was born in 1979 and became a white nationalist in the post-9/11 era. Their respective stories of radicalization upend much of what we assume about women, politics, and political extremism.

My Review:

Author Seyward Darby gives readers a glimpse into how and why three women found their way into (and in some cases out of) the extreme far-right, white nationalist movement. I was drawn to this book because  Darby chose three very unique subjects for her analysis and research. From an outsider's perspective, I can see how each of these women found their home, voice, and identity within the white nationalist movement. Sometimes nonfiction books can get bogged down in so many details, footnotes, and statistics that I find reading them can become "clunky" but that was not the case for with this book. Darby's writing integrated endless facts and references but I read it with the passion of a page-turning novel. If you want to know more about political and social groups that normalize extremism, but don't want to listen to people arguing on a talk show, read clickbait articles, or dive down any dark web rabbit holes, you should read Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism. This book is insightful, intriguing and I would recommend it across the board to every type of reader!