The Turner Diaries
The Turner Diaries is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce, a neo-Nazi and the founder and chairman of National Alliance, a white nationalist group, published under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald.[1][2] It depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, a nuclear war, and ultimately a race war which leads to the systematic extermination of non-whites and Jews.[3][4] All groups opposed by the novel's protagonist, Earl Turner—including Jews, non-white people, "liberal actors," and politicians—are murdered en masse.[5]
Author
William Luther Pierce (as Andrew Macdonald)
Dennis Nix
United States
English
National Vanguard Books
1978
211 (2nd ed.)
0-937-94402-5 2nd edition, paperback
PS3563.A2747
The Turner Diaries was described as being "explicitly racist and anti-Semitic" by The New York Times and has been labeled the "bible of the racist right" by the FBI.[6][7] The book was greatly influential in shaping white nationalism and the later development of the white genocide conspiracy theory. It has also inspired numerous hate crimes and acts of terrorism, including the 1984 assassination of Alan Berg, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the 1999 London nail bombings. It is estimated to have influenced perpetrators in over 200 killings.
Publication history[edit]
The Turner Diaries was published by Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald.[1][2] It was originally published in a serial form in the National Alliance publication Attack! between 1975 and 1978,[10] with one chapter released per issue during this period.[11] Enthusiastic reactions among racist sympathizers led Pierce to self-publish the story as a paperback in 1978.[12] Artist Dennis Nix contributed to the illustrations.[13] The main story was originally set in the 1980s; Pierce changed it to the 1990s when the series was compiled to be published as a book in 1978.[11]
The Turner Diaries was initially only sold via mail order from the National Alliance headquarters in West Virginia.[14] It had sold 200,000 copies by the late 1990s according to self-estimates generally considered reliable by scholars.[15][16] Other estimates have gone higher, giving a figure of 500,000 copies sold as of 2000.[14][1]
The Policy on the Classification of Hate Propaganda, Sedition and Treason of the Canada Border Services Agency has classified The Turner Diaries as "obscene" and "hate propaganda" literature that cannot be imported to Canada under the Criminal Code.[17][18][19] In late 2020, online bookstore Amazon removed all new and used print and digital copies of The Turner Diaries from its bookselling platform, including all subsidiaries (AbeBooks, The Book Depository), effectively stopping sales of the title from the digital bookselling market. Although Amazon did not state a specific reason for the removal, it followed the company's purge of a number of self-published and small-press titles connected with QAnon from its platform.[20][21] The book had previously been on Amazon with a disclaimer noting its history of being associated with terrorist acts.[21]