Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe

The authors give the history of their personal interest in political extremism. Recognizing their fallibility, and inability to claim "anything approaching complete objectivity", the authors attempted to "make an honest and diligent attempt to be fair and even-handed in our treatment of this subject." Distinguishing this book from the many covering "extremism" or "extremists" on the market (with their own agenda "to provide a rationale for persecuting or doing away with certain 'extremists'"), the authors' goal was "to provide understanding of a human problem, not a basis for one more round of persecutions." The authors propose a definition of "extremism" based on "the behavioral model" ("defined in terms of certain behaviors, particularly behavior toward other human beings"), passing up the "normative or "statistical" way" (framing the spectrum on a linear scale, a "bell curve") and the "popularity contest" theory ("social definition agreed upon by collective fiat"). The authors describe their position on the political spectrum as "a bit difficult to pin down"; they "might be most accurately described as pragmatists with libertarian tendencies." == Publication history ==

It was published by Prometheus Books (Buffalo, New York) in 1992 as a 523-page hardcover. In 1996, Prometheus Books (Amherst, New York) republished it as American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists and Others in a 443-page paperback. The name change was possibly influenced by the resurgence in interest in extremist following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. John George was a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma in sociology and political sciences. == Reception ==

Max J. Skidmore for The Kansas City Star praised it as then the "definitive study" on American political extremism. Another review noted it as scholarly and not particularly entertaining, but called it important reading. One reviewer criticized the book's grouping of the John Birch Society with more militant and racist far-righters, and another questioned the comparison of Fidel Castro with Pol Pot. == References ==