He foresaw the rise of white nationalism. This fall, the book returns to shelves.
New introduction by Jerry Mitchell
Blood and Politics is Leonard Zeskind's unprecedented sweeping history of white nationalism's four-decade rise in America. Banned by the U.S. Naval Academy in April 2025, its re-release could not be more timely. Few American writers have been so thoroughly vindicated by events they spent their lives trying to prevent. Blood and Politics is now “essential to the understanding of our present moment” (Boston Globe).
At every stop, Carol Smith, Leonard's life partner of 46 years, offers reflections on the book and Zeskind's legacy, joined by Devin Burghart, executive director of IREHR, who tracked the movement alongside Zeskind since 1991.
Pilsen Community Books
Carol Smith and Devin Burghart in conversation.
Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch
Also joined by Bishop Donna Simon, Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Zachary Mueller, senior strategist for States at the Core; and Nimrod Chapel, Jr., Missouri president of the NAACP. Moderated by nationally syndicated columnist Mary Sanchez.
Skylark Bookshop
Moderated by Rhonda Perry, executive director of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center.
Left Bank Books
Also joined by Zachary Mueller, senior strategist for States at the Core.
Raven Book Store
Also joined by Zachary Mueller, senior strategist for States at the Core. Moderated by Melinda Lewis, professor at the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas.
Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism
Also joined by Loretta Ross, associate professor, Smith College, and Ken Stern, Bard College Center for the Study of Hate. Moderated by Daniel HoSang, associate professor of Ethnicity, Race & Migration, Yale University.
Busboys and Poets — The Davis Room
More details coming soon.
Washington Hebrew Congregation
More details coming soon.
Baltimore Hebrew Congregation
More details coming soon.
Flyleaf Books
Also joined by Mab Segrest, author of Memoir of a Race Traitor: Fighting Racism in the American South. Moderated by Ben Wilkins, director of the Union of Southern Service Workers.
Firestorm Books
Carol Smith and Devin Burghart in conversation.
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Blood and Politics continues to be a relevant compass to understanding the strategies that drive white nationalism forward. Join us for a discussion on how to stop the spread of the white nationalist movement's racism and bigotry, to protect human rights and to foster real democracy — and to honor Zeskind's long-time motto: Fighting Nazis can be fun!
Leonard Zeskind (1949–2025) spent four decades researching — often in person — the organizing of the white nationalist movement, from think tanks and publications to armed militia groups and Holocaust deniers. A MacArthur Fellow, he founded the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR) in 1983 to carry the work forward. Blood and Politics, published in 2009, remains the definitive account of the post–Civil Rights era white nationalist movement. An essential study of American racism, it is thorough, careful, and troublingly prescient.
