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Black sun: Aryan cults, esoteric Nazism, and the politics of identity
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2002
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Queer Of Color CritiqueCritical Race TheoryXenoracismRight-wing PoliticsNationalismBlack Sun DocumentsBlack ExperienceEsoteric NazismBlack Radical TraditionSocial SciencesRaceFar-right StudiesContemporary RacismWhite SupremacyAfrican American StudiesEthnic StudiesBlack SunLanguage StudiesIdentity PoliticsBlack RadicalismAryan CultsCritical TheoryPolitical PowerSocial MovementsAnti-racismCultureBlack PoliticsPolitical MovementsFascism In EuropePolitical Science
In the post‑World War II era, far‑right movements have revived by exploiting anxieties over globalization, immigration, and affirmative action, drawing on a syncretic mix of paganism, anti‑Semitism, Eastern thought, and occultism to frame a narrative of invisible elite control. Black Sun investigates how contemporary neo‑fascist groups, militias, and conspiracy cults seek influence. The book draws on interviews and archival research to document Nazi‑inspired sects from the 1970s onward and analyze the mindset and motives of these extremists. The study reveals a grounded portrait of Hitler cults among Aryan mystics, skinheads, Nazi satanists, heavy‑metal fans, and occult literature, portraying a religion with relics, rituals, and prophecies that could, under the right conditions, attain political power and pursue millenarian fantasies.
More than half a century after the defeat of Nazism and fascism, the far right is again challenging the liberal order of Western democracies. Radical movements are feeding on anxiety about economic globalization, affirmative action, and third-world immigration, flashpoint issues to many traditional groups in multicultural societies. A curious mixture of Aristocratic paganism, anti-Semitic demonology, Eastern philosophies and the occult is influencing populist antigovernment sentiment and helping to exploit the widespread fear that invisible elites are shaping world events. Black Sun examines the new neofascist ideology, showing how hate groups, militias and conspiracy cults attempt to gain influence. Based on interviews and extensive research into underground groups, Black Sun documents the new Nazi and fascist sects that have sprung up from the 1970s through the 1990s and examines the mentality and motivation of these far-right extremists. The result is a detailed, grounded portrait of the mythical and devotional aspects of Hitler cults among Aryan mystics, racist skinheads and Nazi satanists, Heavy Metal music fans, and in occult literature. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke offers a unique perspective on far right neo-Nazism viewing it as a new form of Western religious heresy. He paints a frightening picture of a religion with its own relics, rituals, prophecies and an international sectarian following that could, under the proper conditions, gain political power and attempt to realize its dangerous millenarian fantasies.