Conspiracy narratives and American apocalypticism in The Turner Diaries

Abstract

The rise of populist far-right movements seems inextricably bound up with conspiracy theories. Modern members of the alt-right trace the roots of some of their beliefs back to two novels published in the 1970s: Jean Raspail’s The Camp of the Saints (1973) and William Luther Pierce’s The Turner Diaries (1978). As the political power of the alt-right has grown, these previously rather obscure novels have come to be seen as seminal works that have shaped powerful socio-political forces. This chapter focuses on The Turner Diaries as a paradigmatic example of American conspiratorial alt-right apocalypticism. The novel depicts an apocalyptic race war against a Jewish-controlled federal government that begins to discriminate systematically against whites, who fight back against the combined enemies of the alt-right: ethnic minorities, liberal race traitors, treacherous women, homosexuals, and even traditional conservatives and libertarians. The chapter examines the connection between apocalyptic literature and conspiracy narratives, which share similar structures and encourage a particular type of reading practice. In doing so, it sheds light on the ideologies of the alt-right and the power of conspiracy narratives to hold believers in a feverish and potentially lethal grip.