It's very hard to believe that this type of hate can live in today's world, much less plan terroristic events in the United States. This book held me spellbound from the introduction on. The motives and actions of this group would force their opinions on many, killing to make their point. Their rationalizations seem crazy when viewed from a distance but we can only be thankful their actions were stopped and their organization revealed. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in today's violent segment of the population and how to stop them.

This is a good book--tough read. It's a true story about a foiled domestic terrorism plot in Kansas. The story is timely. I put it down for a while because it's tough to read about so much irrational hate, but it's worthwhile read.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

White Hot Hate is a true crime book that utilizes recordings, interviews, and court documents to tell the story of a small rural militia’s plot to kill Muslim refugees. The campaign and election of Donald Trump added fuel to the fire of hatred among a group of gun-toting, self-proclaimed patriots. And an unlikely, everyday man pairs up with the FBI to stop the plot and save Somali refugees.

Dick Lehr begins the book by providing context on national events and then dives into the the story. He also sets up the narrative with enough details for readers to have a solid frame of reference to refer back to for the rest of the book. For example, Lehr explains how a small town in the middle of nowhere Kansas attracted a significant Somali refugee population (meatpacking plants).

I found White Hot Hate to be an easy read that held my attention from beginning to end. I would not go as far as to call White Hot Hate super compelling. Lehr writes a straight-forward narrative without commentary on the people, place, or events. He is faithful to the source documents and provides an unbiased account. I appreciated his dedication to providing a neutral portrayal that did not glamorize violence, hate, or the terrorists.

For me, there was a big component I hoped White Hot Hate would cover that was not included. As someone who does not share the opinions of the book’s subjects, I wished the narrative had explored more of the psychological aspects of those involved. Lehr did not provide readers with an understanding of where or how the men’s hatred originated. This felt like a vital component of the story was skipped over. Despite all the details about plotting and planning, I was left grasping to comprehend the story’s very foundation. In addition, I would have been interested in learning more about the experience of being an FBI informant. Although Lehr included how being an FBI informant weighed on Dan Day, other details were absent.

Overall, White Hot Hate is a solid true crime novel that highlights that the biggest terrorist threat to America is white supremacists and bigotry. I recommend this piece of narrative nonfiction, especially if you do not have firsthand knowledge of rural life and how domestic terrorist threats arise.

Do not start this book without checking the blurb first! It is well done but the subject matter is tense. The story was a bit hard to read simply because of the main theme of the book.

Pros:

I appreciate using first-person interviews, court documents, and news articles to build out this story. It allowed for a fuller picture of what was going on in Garden City and, contextually, in the rest of the country.
This story is incredibly compelling and really drives home the proliferation of domestic terror in this country. This is simply one story, which if I think about it too long, will make me want to pull my hair out.
This could have been a medium- or fast-paced read, but I found myself wanting to slow down to savor the book.
I appreciate the efforts to follow this story to its completion. It was very satisfying.

Cons:

My hang-ups with this book are limited. First, I feel that the book could have been edited down another 30 or so pages. Additional editing may have been done in the final version, but the ARC version felt winding and uncertain on how to wrap up.
The author reiterated a statement that the federal government had not taken domestic terrorism seriously prior to 2016. I do not believe this to be true and have sat in on meetings that discussed this very concern. This is a minor point in the grand scheme but is a bother to me.

Wow!

This book was eye-opening. It is well written and well researched. It does not read like nonfiction and at times I had to remind myself that this was a true story.

Dan Day is an extraordinary man. The fact he put himself in a position to expose this domestic threat is what true patriotism is about.

A great read that reveals the truth behind small town militias and hate groups.

I wanted to like this book. I enjoy true crime and maybe in a better year, I would have liked this. It's well-researched and I respect the author's time delving into this story. It's a bit on the dry, wordy side of true crime / political reads. Recommended for serious adults.

I still don't know how I feel about this book. While I did receive an ARC of this book, I don't think I would have gone out of my way to read it. We hear these things happening all the time in the news and especially with the last president. As for the book itself, it was well written and researched well. If you like more political true-crime then this would be an interesting read.

This timely nonfiction book relates the story of a trio of Kansas militia members who conspire to bomb a Somali-immigrant apartment complex in their town of Garden City, KS. Dan Day, a Kansas resident and neighbor, ends up infiltrating the group as an FBI informant to catch them before their plans reach fruition. Historian Dick Lehr has written a propulsive and, at its core, terrifying story that assesses just what a danger domestic terrorism is in the United States of today.

Fueled by racism, an irrational love of guns and gun culture, far-right narratives inspiring hate against then-president Obama and immigrants coming to the United States, and a twisted version of Christianity, these three men amped up their hate from racist rants in private Facebook chatrooms to actually building bombs (using YouTube tutorials!) and setting the date for the murder of hundreds of Somalis. The tightrope Dan walks as a father and husband and Christian who is against the racism he hears from these men but to keep up appearances he has to echo much of it is fascinating and keeps the story moving.

My only quibble was a lack of a larger discussion about this epidemic. What encouraged these men to hate and to try and act on that hate (even to their own detriment) is alluded to be a host of things, but I would have liked a larger discussion about how the rhetoric of supposedly "legit" politicians and newscasters also works to encourage these behaviors and suggestions on what can be done to curtail it.

All in all, I was hooked on this very necessary book. If it's not a warning, I don't know what is.

Enough. At 23% I was done.

From the beginning the book reads like a textbook. I settled into that mind set. I had hoped for a story, not a lesson. I was hearing blah, blah, blah with all the facts and at one point laughed imagining my college days and note taking.

I expected racial slurs and uncomfortable explanations given the topic. However, the tirade of profanity was my breaking point. Between 21-23%, on my Kindle, the profanity and the use of God and F made me queasy. The story is important, it happened on US soil. Given the nature of the book and the author's tirade so early on, I'm throwing in the towel. I don't see the need nor do I believe the author will cease.

I can't imagine picking this nonfiction book up in an attempt to learn, and no warnings on the language.

Thank you NetGalley for accepting my request to read and review White Hot Hate. I am disappointed there isn't a better outcome.

#NetGalley
#DickLehr
#WhiteHotHate

I liked this reporter's work on Whitey Bulger, so I picked up this latest. It did not disappoint but clearly laid out this frightening heartland terrorist plot aimed at Somalis and Muslims settling to work in the meat packing industry. Solid interviews and inside info about the role of the heroic "regular guy" FBI informant as well as the motivations of the group and man who spearheaded the plot drive this fast paced book. .Fear and racism are on view here as well as how easily the media and internet stoke up the fire. A must for people who'd like to gain more of an understanding about how their neighbors can become involved in hate groups.

As a fan of true crime books this was an interesting read. My only complaint is that it’s very long ,I do like big books, but this was really wordy and some things could have been left out without changing the impact of the story
At some point I got tangled up in meetings, guns, talk ( never knew guys could talk so much) explosives, guns, meetings, meetings and more meetings.
That aside the story very intriguing to me. Since I started to read a lot of books about American history ( as a substitute for our postponed vacation ) my interest kept growing. So this book was absolutely not a waste of time.

What is it about? This true story all starts with a cookout.Dan Day, an average Joe turned FBI informant and eventual hero after ,you could say accidentally,infiltrating a militia group known as the Kansas Security Force (AKA morons) They decided that complaining about their new neighbors and threatening them directly wasn’t enough. The men plotted to bomb a mosque, aiming to kill hundreds and inspire other attacks against Muslims in America.
But they would wait until after the presidential election so that their actions wouldn’t hurt Donald Trump’s chances of winning.
The book leads me to a lot of thoughts. Especially on "militias" in the United States.
What a load of unhappy white guys, disappointed that they have not "made it" Rather than try to improve themselves through education, work, etc., they decide it is much easier to blame "others" for their failings. The "others" being blacks, latinos, any foreigners, left winged, educated people, almost anyone not like them.
But when I put it like this they seem pretty harmless.
The scary thing today is that they have social media to connect with each other,so they can ramp up and reinforce their prejudices. All for patriotism and freedom.
How fortunate that most of them are incompetent!

White Hot Hate tells the story of three men who plot to target a large Somali immigrant population in their small town. Luckily, this group had a fourth member, an FBI informant, who actively works to prevent this tragedy and to gather evidence against these three men. This book gives a glimpse into the far-right extremist movement in the United States and the devastating results of having not acknowledged the true danger it poses to American citizens and those who immigrate in search of a better life and safety. While it is disturbing and draining to be an eavesdropper on these conversations and plans, it is necessary for us to put ourselves in this situation in order to be more ready to acknowledge the threat that is simmering across our country. This was expertly reported with data derived from many first hand documents and sources.

This books tells us the story of a FBI amateur informant that puts his life on the line to prevent a mass white supremacist attack on his little multicultural city in rural Kansas.

This real heartbreaking story shows us all that white supremacy is real in America (and not only) and, unfortunately, it's here to stay. It shows us that, even though the media and many politicians don't care to share it, domestic terrorism related to racism and Islamophobic rhetoric (fueled by right-wing extremist and fake news social networks) is a much bigger deal than what many Americans think.

The book really captivates us and despite the hard themes and the disgusting thoughts of the white supremacists that we have to read, the writing keeps us wanting to read more, and, essentially, know what happens in the end. My main problem was that, in the last fourth or so of this book, it started being a bit repetitive. There was a bit too much of storytelling about bomb making, firearms etc.

Overall, it was an interesting book regarding a sad case I had never heard about, but I'm glad to see that in end, there was a happier ending than in many other cases. I think it's an important read, and while, unfortunately, this racist terrorist case is only one of too many, reading more deeply about all these cases may help us understand how these groups develop and how to tackle them.

This book was very dry, it took a long time to get started. I picked it up as I was intrigued for a terrorism storyline that didn't blame Muslims for a wee change but this just wasn't it. I found it a struggle to sit through the opinions and attitudes of the men who had planned the incident and feel perhaps it just wasn't for me.

Quite a disturbing read, only because of its reality and the well written, detail-oriented story telling of the author. My only complaint was the timeline jumping around, though ultimately it made sense for the intent the author had. This is quite an important read up consider during our current challenges in America.

Dick Lehr’s White Hot Hate is a testament to “doing the right thing.” Dan Day is a law-abiding Midwesterner who believes in his right to bear arms and that a small government is a good government, but he in no way buys into the racism and Islamophobia of the far-right. When he becomes an informant for the FBI he’s taken it upon himself to do his patriotic duty and inform on a group of extremists in Garden City, Kansas set on attacking a group of Somali refugees.

The book excels in many ways, as a piece of true crime and a sociological investigation into American politics. Lehr achieves this through researched details and a focus on context. A writer could easily jot down the timeline of actions, but the focus of this White Hot Hate is the WHY? What is happening in the United States that creates this climate of anger and suspicion? Lehr connects these actions to other crimes and extremist groups to show how widespread this hate is in our nation.

The presidential election was heating up in early 2016 and anti-immigrant rhetoric, especially against Muslims, was being heard from many candidates but Donald Trump was the loudest. And for many of these men and women, he was the opposite of the Democrat currently in the White House. Trump and the extremists he irresponsibly endorsed brought this hate to the forefront of conversations all over the dark corners of the internet.

Hulu has even turned the story into a documentary that is currently streaming. Check out the trailer.

My only criticism is that parts of the book become a bit repetitious as Day follows the routine of meeting with the milia members and then with his handlers… back and forth…

White Hot Hate is a book that covers so much ground about right-wing xenophobia in its 400 pages. An objective view of radicalization… and the small community of Somali refugees who are almost victims of this hate.

4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mariner Books, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

This was so well written. I was engrossed from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations. I would definitely recommend to others.

A thoroughly researched and incredibly expansive true crime text about a recent case and its social, political, and geographical contexts, Dick Lehr’s White Hot Hate (Mariner Books 2021) is perfect for readers interested in the US justice system and the complex consequences of fanaticism and misinformation.

Lehr’s book is a deep-dive into a 2016 case of domestic terrorism. As the 2016 election stirred up debates around immigration that led to hate speech, racism, and white nationalism, certain groups were emboldened to form quasi-militias in preparation for what they saw as the inevitable race war. One such group called themselves the Crusaders, and, as they heard a presidential candidate take nearly every opportunity to espouse his racist and Islamophobic ideologies on public platforms, they became emboldened to prepare to act on their belief that immigrants were fundamentally evil and preparing to dismantle the country from the inside out. The Crusaders targeted the growing Somali community in Garden City, Kansas.

For the Crusaders, having meetings to talk about their racist values wasn’t enough; the men hatched a plot to bomb a mosque in order to kill hundreds of people and, hopefully, inspire other militia groups to do the same. The book itself centers around Dan Day, a self-identified Republican who recognized the facial and racist foundations of the Crusader’s beliefs as deeply flawed and damaging. For eight months, Day infiltrated the group and fed information to the FBI in an effort to monitor the group and, eventually, stop them. White Hot Hate focuses on Day’s complex and often endangered position within the group, profiling the people and events that surrounded the case as a symptom of a wider cultural context and the dark turn of the US’s political climate in 2016.

Lehr’s text is expansive. He leaves no stoned unturned in his account of this case and the subsequent fallout. Anything from this history of Kansas as a state to the history of the FBI is explored here as it is relevant to Day’s position in the Crusaders. This is due partly to the fact that Lehr never wants the reader to forget that this case is symptomatic of a larger cultural shift in America around this time—and one that the US is still coping with. A presidential candidate gave public licence to people like the Crusaders to treat others as though their lives had no value, and Lehr underscores that this case is symbolically represents the dangers of a post-Trump world. Lehr’s expansiveness in this text, however, is also indicative of the amount of material he was forced to contend with in this book. As he points out in the introduction,

“White Hot Hate is a work of nonfiction about real people, real events, and a real place. No one’s name has been changed. The book is based on thousands of pages of sworn testimony and documents from a federal district court trial, a federal appeals court review, and investigatory reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Justice. The latter includes at least a hundred hours of secretly recorded (audio and, at times, video) conversations involving the FBI informant Dan Day, the FBI undercover agent ‘Brian,’ and the three crusaders.”

Lehr’s work here seems monumental. In synthesizing thousands of pages and records into a coherent narrative, the text unspools slowly. While the pace may seem tedious for some, it was critical in the thematic development of White Hot Hate. Lehr’s research is accompanied by a unique degree of specificity that is truly admirable. He widens the scope of his text to make significant connections between this bombing plot and the current social climate. However, he also points out that there is light at the end of the tunnel by providing the perspectives and thoughts of several key Somali-American residents who could have lost their lives had things gone differently. This aspect of the book was very refreshing, as it sharply illustrated the dissonance between the militia’s views and the reality of the world without diminishing the significance of the racism encountered by Somali residents every day.

I was particularly interested in the complicated character of Dan Day. Lehr spends a significant amount of time detailing Day’s life history, his social position, and his motivations for informing on the Crusaders, as well as the emotional, psychological, and even physical toll this position took on him. His move from an average Kansas resident to FBI informant is a startling one, and it is one that we are asked to cope with alongside Day. Furthermore, it is obvious that Lehr himself was forced, to some degree, to contend with the dark and confused world of the Crusaders as well, as he recounts incidents of shocking racism, evil vocabulary, and dangerous plots. This book is not for the faint of heart in this respect; it truly is a descent into the worst aspects of a human’s mind—spurred by the encouragement of a group. As Day and Lehr, and, consequently, the reader encounters the inner workings of a militia group like this, it introduces us to a whole new (and very flawed) vocabulary that was terrifying at times.

If you’re interested in domestic terrorism, Trump’s America, and a thorough exploration of just a fraction of what these kind of ideologies can generate, White Hot Hate is the book for you.

Please add White Hot Hate to your Goodreads shelf.

Don’t forget to follow True Crime Index on Twitter and please visit our Goodreads for updates on what we’re reading! You can find Rachel on her personal @RachelMFriars or on Goodreads @Rachel Friars.

About the Writer:

Rachel M. Friars (she/her) is a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature with a focus on neo-Victorianism and adaptations of Jane Eyre. Her current work centers on neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century lesbian literature and history, with secondary research interests in life writing, historical fiction, true crime, popular culture, and the Gothic. Her academic writing has been published with Palgrave Macmillan and in The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies. She is a reviewer for The Lesbrary, the co-creator of True Crime Index, and an Associate Editor and Social Media Coordinator for PopMeC Research Collective. Rachel is co-editor-in-chief of the international literary journal, The Lamp, and regularly publishes her own short fiction and poetry. Find her on Twitter and Goodreads.

A digital copy of this book was graciously provided to True Crime Index from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.