THE HATE NEXT DOOR

A White police detective chronicles his time undercover with organized White supremacy groups.

Matson Browning’s firsthand experience working with White supremacists at local, national, and international levels makes for a largely gripping read, akin to watching your favorite cop show on TV. In the introduction, Matson, writing with his wife, Tawni, states that the book is a history of groups like White nationalists, neo-Nazis, Christian identitarians, and other less recognizable supporters of an ideal Aryan nation, but the text reads more as a memoir mixed with organizational ethnography, touching on the histories of the groups but not the underlying causes of their creation and popularity. Matson saw the danger of organized White supremacy groups before it was considered a true threat, and through his foresight, he has managed to create a knowledge base that is likely unmatched. This includes the building of personal relationships with high-level members of influential hate groups, which he has leveraged into the Skinhead Intelligence Network. The scope of the book is ambitious. While there is a clear focus on Matson’s experience with specific groups and their major players, dwelling in equal measure on his successes and his regrets, there are also discussions of police push back, infiltration of White supremacists in law enforcement, and the failure of those systems to recognize and respond to the threats in their communities and within their ranks. In between chapter breaks are news stories, distilled and reframed, of the violence that has been perpetrated in the name of White supremacy. The authors speak less to current movements and groups, but they touch lightly on a post-Trump America and its implications. They conclude with a guide to rehabilitating White supremacists, a glossary of hate terms and symbols to recognize, a “Where Are They Now” of racist organizers, and a reading group guide.

Knowledgeable, propulsive, and a bit terrifying, though a deeper analysis of hate in the U.S. would have been appreciated.