Introduction

Siege, an anthology of James Mason’s writings, is the most popular book with contemporary neo-Nazis who espouse terrorism, such as the Atomwaffen Division. Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege looks closely at how Siege came to be. Starting as a newsletter in the 1980s and coming out as a book in the early 1990s, Siege has had a profound influence on the landscape of the Far Right.

Looking at Siege is important for three reasons. First, it shows that the American Nazi Party (later the National Socialist White People’s Party, NSWPP) had a wing that embraced violence. This included Joseph Tommasi, founder of the National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF), as well as William Pierce, founder of the National Alliance and author of famous pro-terrorist novel The Turner Diaries. Second, the poorly documented period of U.S. neo-Nazism in the 1970s, when the groundwork was laid for future decades and which forms the background of Siege, is investigated. Third, this book examines the role of a circle of publishers and musicians in the 1980s and ’90s who worked with Mason. Within countercultural circles, there has been much speculation about the involvement of Boyd Rice, Adam Parfrey, and Michael Moynihan with neo-Nazism. Looking in particular at their correspondence with Mason sheds light on the extent of this—and reveals much more than has previously been documented.