Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe

Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe: Political Extremism in America is a 1992 book by John George and Laird Wilcox. It is an examination of political extremism of both the far left and far right in the United States.

The authors attempt to summarize the pre-1960 historical background of American extremist movements, discuss conspiracy theories and their validity, offer their insight on what motivates extremists, and discuss a number of contemporary groups on the "far left" and "far right" based principally on their personal contacts with approximately six hundred individual extremists and the extremists' own writings.

It was published by Prometheus Books (Buffalo, New York) in 1992 as a 523-page hardcover (ISBN 0-87975-680-2). In 1996, Prometheus Books (Amherst, New York) republished it as American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists and Others in a 443-page paperback (ISBN 1-57392-058-4).

Overview
The authors give the history of their personal interest in political extremism. Recognizing their fallibility, and inability to claim "anything approaching complete objectivity", the authors attempted to "make an honest and diligent attempt to be fair and even-handed in our treatment of this subject." Distinguishing this book from the many covering "extremism" or "extremists" on the market (with their own agenda "to provide a rationale for persecuting or doing away with certain 'extremists'"), the authors' goal was "to provide understanding of a human problem, not a basis for one more round of persecutions." The authors propose a definition of "extremism" based on "the behavioral model" ("defined in terms of certain behaviors, particularly behavior toward other human beings"), passing up the "normative or "statistical" way" (framing the spectrum on a linear scale, a "bell curve") and the "popularity contest" theory ("social definition agreed upon by collective fiat"). The authors describe their position on the political spectrum as "a bit difficult to pin down"; they "might be most accurately described as pragmatists with libertarian tendencies."

Organization

 * Preface
 * Part I. Background, Characteristics, Motivations, and Other Considerations
 * Chapter 1. It's Not New: Historical Perspective on American Extremism Prior to 1960
 * Chapter 2. What Is Extremism? Style and Tactics Matter More Than Goals
 * Chapter 3. Extremists and the Constitution
 * Chapter 4. Motivations: Why They Join, Stay, Leave
 * Part II. The Far Left
 * Chapter 5. Communist Party USA
 * Chapter 6. Socialist Workers Party
 * Chapter 7. Spartacist League
 * Chapter 8. Workers League
 * Chapter 9. The Guardian
 * Chapter 10. Black Panther Party
 * Chapter 11. Students for a Democratic Society
 * Chapter 12. Progressive Labor Party
 * Chapter 13. Workers World Party
 * Chapter 14. Communist Party USA (Marxist–Leninist)
 * Chapter 15. Revolutionary Action Movement
 * Chapter 16. Revolutionary Communist Party
 * Chapter 17. Communist Workers Party
 * Chapter 18. All-African People's Revolutionary Party
 * Chapter 19. Marxist–Leninist Party, USA
 * Part III. The Far Right'''
 * Chapter 20. Reverend Billy James Hargis and his Christian Crusade
 * Chapter 21. The John Birch Society: A Plot to Sell Books?
 * Chapter 22. The Dan Smoot Report
 * Chapter 23. "Life Line"
 * Chapter 24. The Church League of America
 * Chapter 25. The Christian Right
 * Chapter 26. Willis Carto and Liberty Lobby
 * Chapter 27. The Citizens' Councils of America and The Councilor
 * Chapter 28. Robert Bolivar DePugh and the Minutemen
 * Chapter 29. Common Sense
 * Chapter 30. Gerald L. K. Smith and Christian Nationalist Crusade
 * Chapter 31. The LaRouche Network
 * Chapter 32. Jewish Defense League
 * Chapter 33. The Nation of Islam
 * Chapter 34. Assorted Neo-Nazis
 * National Renaissance Party
 * American Nazi Party
 * National Socialist Party of America
 * Neo-Nazi splinters and sects like
 * America First Committee
 * American White Nationalist Party
 * Euro-American Alliance
 * National Alliance
 * National Democratic Front
 * National Socialist League/World Service
 * National Socialist Liberation Front
 * National Socialist Movement
 * National Socialist Vanguard
 * National Socialist White America Party
 * NSDAP/AO
 * National Socialist White Workers Party
 * the Social Nationalist Aryan Peoples Party
 * SS Action Group,
 * United White Peoples Party
 * major groups of the 1980s like Aryan Nations
 * The Mountain Church of Jesus Christ
 * The Order
 * Posse Comitatus
 * White Aryan Resistance
 * Chapter 35. The National States' Rights Party
 * Chapter 36. National Christian Publishers
 * Chapter 37. Ku Klux Klans


 * Appendix I. Fake Quotes and Fabricated Documents: A Common Extremist Tactic
 * Appendix II. Principal Characteristics of the Extremes and the Mainstream in America: A Handy Guide for Extremist Watchers
 * Index