WITH A NEW FOREWARD Journalist Seyward Darby’’s “masterfully reported and incisive” (Nell Irvin Painter) exposé pulls back the curtain on modern racial and political extremism in America telling the “eye-opening and unforgettable” (Ibram X. Kendi) account of three women immersed in the white nationalist movement. After the election of Donald J. Trump, journalist Seyward Darby went looking … 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.
Corinna, a professional embalmer who was once a body builder, found community in white nationalism before it was the alt-right, while she was grieving the death of her brother and the end of hermarriage. For Corinna, hate was more than just personal animus — it could also bring people together. Eventually, she decided to leave the movement and served as an informant for the FBI.
Ayla, a devoutly Christian mother of six, underwent a personal transformation from self-professed feminist to far-right online personality. Her identification with the burgeoning “tradwife” movement reveals how white nationalism traffics in society’’s preferred, retrograde ways of seeing women.
Lana, who runs a right-wing media company with her husband, enjoys greater fame and notoriety than many of her sisters in hate. Her work disseminating and monetizing far-right dogma is a testament to the power of disinformation.
With acute psychological insight and eye-opening reporting, Darby steps inside the contemporary hate movement and draws connections to precursors like the Ku Klux Klan. Far more than mere helpmeets, women like Corinna, Ayla, and Lana have been sustaining features of white nationalism. Sisters in Hate shows how the work women do to normalize and propagate racist extremism has consequences well beyond the hate movement.
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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.
Corinna, a professional embalmer who was once a body builder, found community in white nationalism before it was the alt-right, while she was grieving the death of her brother and the end of hermarriage. For Corinna, hate was more than just personal animus — it could also bring people together. Eventually, she decided to leave the movement and served as an informant for the FBI.
Ayla, a devoutly Christian mother of six, underwent a personal transformation from self-professed feminist to far-right online personality. Her identification with the burgeoning “tradwife” movement reveals how white nationalism traffics in society’’s preferred, retrograde ways of seeing women.
Lana, who runs a right-wing media company with her husband, enjoys greater fame and notoriety than many of her sisters in hate. Her work disseminating and monetizing far-right dogma is a testament to the power of disinformation.
With acute psychological insight and eye-opening reporting, Darby steps inside the contemporary hate movement and draws connections to precursors like the Ku Klux Klan. Far more than mere helpmeets, women like Corinna, Ayla, and Lana have been sustaining features of white nationalism. Sisters in Hate shows how the work women do to normalize and propagate racist extremism has consequences well beyond the hate movement.
p;apos;s preferred, retrograde ways of seeing women.
Lana, who runs a right-wing media company with her husband, enjoys greater fame and notoriety than many of her sisters in hate. Her work disseminating and monetizing far-right dogma is a testament to the power of disinformation.
With acute psychological insight and eye-opening reporting, Darby steps inside the contemporary hate movement and draws connections to precursors like the Ku Klux Klan. Far more than mere helpmeets, women like Corinna, Ayla, and Lana have been sustaining features of white nationalism. Sisters in Hate shows how the work women do to normalize and propagate racist extremism has consequences well beyond the hate movement./BR>
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.
Corinna, a professional embalmer who was once a body builder, found community in white nationalism before it was the alt-right, while she was grieving the death of her brother and the end of hermarriage. For Corinna, hate was more than just personal animus — it could also bring people together. Eventually, she decided to leave the movement and served as an informant for the FBI.
Ayla, a devoutly Christian mother of six, underwent a personal transformation from self-professed feminist to far-right online personality. Her identification with the burgeoning “tradwife” movement reveals how white nationalism traffics in society’’s preferred, retrograde ways of seeing women.
Lana, who runs a right-wing media company with her husband, enjoys greater fame and notoriety than many of her sisters in hate. Her work disseminating and monetizing far-right dogma is a testament to the power of disinformation.
With acute psychological insight and eye-opening reporting, Darby steps inside the contemporary hate movement and draws connections to precursors like the Ku Klux Klan. Far more than mere helpmeets, women like Corinna, Ayla, and Lana have been sustaining features of white nationalism. Sisters in Hate shows how the work women do to normalize and propagate racist extremism has consequences well beyond the hate movement.
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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.
Corinna, a professional embalmer who was once a body builder, found community in white nationalism before it was the alt-right, while she was grieving the death of her brother and the end of hermarriage. For Corinna, hate was more than just personal animus — it could also bring people together. Eventually, she decided to leave the movement and served as an informant for the FBI.
Ayla, a devoutly Christian mother of six, underwent a personal transformation from self-professed feminist to far-right online personality. Her identification with the burgeoning “tradwife” movement reveals how white nationalism traffics in society’’s preferred, retrograde ways of seeing women.
Lana, who runs a right-wing media company with her husband, enjoys greater fame and notoriety than many of her sisters in hate. Her work disseminating and monetizing far-right dogma is a testament to the power of disinformation.
With acute psychological insight and eye-opening reporting, Darby steps inside the contemporary hate movement and draws connections to precursors like the Ku Klux Klan. Far more than mere helpmeets, women like Corinna, Ayla, and Lana have been sustaining features of white nationalism. Sisters in Hate shows how the work women do to normalize and propagate racist extremism has consequences well beyond the hate movement.
p;apos;s preferred, retrograde ways of seeing women.
Lana, who runs a right-wing media company with her husband, enjoys greater fame and notoriety than many of her sisters in hate. Her work disseminating and monetizing far-right dogma is a testament to the power of disinformation.
With acute psychological insight and eye-opening reporting, Darby steps inside the contemporary hate movement and draws connections to precursors like the Ku Klux Klan. Far more than mere helpmeets, women like Corinna, Ayla, and Lana have been sustaining features of white nationalism. Sisters in Hate shows how the work women do to normalize and propagate racist extremism has consequences well beyond the hate movement.p;apos;s preferred, retrograde ways of seeing women.
Lana, who runs a right-wing media company with her husband, enjoys greater fame and notoriety than many of her sisters in hate. Her work disseminating and monetizing far-right dogma is a testament to the power of disinformation.
With acute psychological insighmore
Not an easy read but an important one nonetheless. By profiling three women in white supremacist movements, one of whom has gotten out, Darby shows the important yet complicated role women play in their growth. White women are typically viewed as nice and less threatening, thus enabling them to get away with more when it comes to propaganda and spreading hate. And yet misogyny is an intrinsic part of white supremacy movements and so women can only have so much power within them. This is an intersectional analysis not only of women in today’s current hate groups but those of the past. It was disturbing to read about the ways seemingly innocuous movements like tradlife are actually gateways toward white nationalism. The three profiles show the people in these hate groups are searching for meaning and purpose but also power and the way propaganda fuels those needs. As difficult as it was to read about such horrible rhetoric, it’s important for me as a white woman to be aware of what’s out there and to use it to interrogate my own beliefs, instead of just writing these people off. This isn’t a problem that’s going to disappear any time soon, thanks to the ways Trump emboldened white nationalists.
Toward the end of the book, Darby mentions Lana and her family moved to a Mennonite town and the people there were grappling with how or if to respond to known racists choosing to move there and what that might say about them. And yet because Lana and her husband don’t make any big waves, the town ultimately doesn’t do much and the wary complacency was chilling to read and explains so much about an under-explored piece in this discussion. What do you as an individual do when the white supremacist is your neighbor? Additionally, in the conclusion Darby mentions white liberals or progressives who made racist statements about her book’s subject matter. These are people who probably think they’re not racist and yet they said things that would have been echoed by the people Darby profiled. It’s the insidious nature of racism and how much it’s been embedded into our structures and systems. Too many white people think they’re fine because they’re not overt racists like Lana and Ayla but they’re a part of the problem too. This is why I’m glad that the conversation has turned toward being anti-racist. It’s imperative to keep the conversation going so we can battle the gaslighting and propaganda that unfortunately continues on.
I’m only halfway through at the moment, but I know this is a must-read. “Sisters in Hate” is a look into the twisted psyches of three white nationalist women across the United States. It’s frankly TERRIFYING to learn that so many white American women view white nationalism as a fulfilling hobby. Only by learning about the sheer extent of racial hatred in the US can we come up with effective ways to eradicate it.
I read this book as a companion to the anti-racist reading I’ve been doing. Through profiles of three women the book shows how racism manifests itself in our culture. I hope more people will read this book — it’s scary to hear the language used by these avowed white supremacists shows up in popular culture TOO MUCH. The book is well researched providing a good mix of research and anecdotes, making it a fast, compelling read that will leave you thinking.
A must-read during this time when we should all try to learn who are neighbors are and where bigotry lurks.