The Turner Diaries - America's manual of hatred

Published: Jan. 20, 2021, 4:28 p.m.

Following the assault on the US Capitol earlier this month, Amazon banned The Turner Diaries, a racist novel blamed for inciting American neo-Nazis to violence. The book calls for a race war and a coup against the institutions of US democracy. It was the favourite reading of Timothy McVeigh, the white terrorist who blew up a federal government building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people. The Turner Diaries was published in 1978 by a former physics professor and neo-Nazi called William Luther Pierce. Simon Watts has been hearing the memories of his son, Kelvin Pierce. They were recorded as part of the BBC series on the American far-right, Two Minutes Past Nine. PHOTO: Shawn Walker, a former leader of William Pierce's neo-Nazi organisation, the National Alliance, posing with a copy of the Turner Diaries (Getty Images)