Book Overview by Natalie Johnson

Soundtracks to the White Revolution is a well researched book put together through a collaboration of efforts by the Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity and the Center for New Community.  The book is part of an international campaign called "Turn it Down: A Campaign Against White Power Music", and it provides a startling and new perspective on the worldwide spread of neo-Nazism, fascism, and Satanism.  

This historical account of the rise of white power music tells of how hate music has become a powerful youth recruiting tool for white supremacists.  The reader learns that this music is so powerful that it has become a multi-million dollar industry.  The authors tell a surprising story about the use of music as an instrumental tool for white supremacists wanting to market hate and violence to youth sub-cultures.  

The authors provide examples of how hate music has successfully infiltrated a wide range of music genres including anything from metal to folk; although the focus in this book is primarily on hate music's place in the punk, metal, and gothic music scenes.  Soundtracks to the White Revolution paints a hauntingly grim picture of how hate music is marketed to appeal to disenfranchised, alienated, and "extreme" teenagers who like loud music.  The researchers who collaborated on this book found that this type of marketing is instrumental to the white supremacist movement because it reaches out to younger generations thereby helping to perpetuate a cycle of hate. 

Soundtracks to the White Revolution also details how hate music has helped to decentralize the neo-Nazi movement.  The reader learns that the lyrics of many hate music songs promote individual acts of hatred and violence.  The authors provide that some of the more popular band's members are criminals, and unfortunately, their violent messages targeted at young listeners are being heard.

Classroom Application

This book prompts the reader, and educators in particular, to question what they may do to prevent the infiltration of these beliefs into the minds of our future.  In a classroom, the book could be used as a springboard for discussion on a variety of issues such as freedom of speech, equality, and justice (Political Science), the psychology and history of Nazism (History), the development of music sub-culture (Arts and Music), or marketing appeal to youth (Journalism).