Should be required reading for every American; since it's not, I appreciate how much this will appeal to true crime readers.

"American Reich" by Eric Lichtblau details some of the more recent racist events hitting news cycles in the US over the past few decades with a particular attention to Orange County, California, and the rise and establishment of the Trump presidency, including his recent return to power.

Based around the murder of Blaze Bernstein by his former high school classmate, Sam Woodward, Lichtblau takes readers on a larger discussion of there recent rise of right wing extremism throughout the United States. From anti-Semitism, which has a long history in the US, to more recent iterations of anti-Muslim and anti-Asian hate trends, as a result of 9/11 and the Covid pandemic, respectively, the number of mass shooting events and rise in neo-Nazi and racist extremist groups throughout the US has previously been overlooked as the 'war on terror' took the spotlight and funding the US media environment and government devoted to its law enforcement capabilities. Now, with Trump's initial campaign and coming to power, the FBI was finally beginning to recognize the risks these groups posed and just when Christopher Wray identified them as some of the biggest threats to this country, the end of the Biden administration and the coming of a second Trump term forced his resignation and ushered in a new period of grievance and rhetoric against immigrant groups and other vulnerable communities as right-wingers are experiencing another resurgence throughout the US.

"American Reich" is an inditement against a country and civil-society that needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror and realize that American exceptionalism today means something wholly different.

Living in Los Angeles, I'm aware of some sinister activity in Orange County, but until I read this book, didn't know the full extent.

5 stars

A look at the rise of white supremacy (as well as other types of hate) after 2015, specifically in Orange County, California, and set in the frame of the 2018 case of two former high school classmates. Blaze Bernstein, a gay, Jewish student at Penn, snuck out of his Orange County home to meet with Sam Woodward, a loner from his high school who had been messaging him flirtatiously. Blaze was never seen alive again.

Lichtblau examines the conservative/Republican political history of Orange County (which is slowly changing) and how the emergence of Donald Trump has caused an increase in hate crimes against essentially every minority group; they have nearly doubled their n a decade and three out of every four offenders is a white male.

This was incredibly depressing, but so important. It’s impossible to deny the numbers, the things that Trump is on record as saying and the statements of young, white, Christian, straight men who cite Trump as their reason for committing their crimes. Anyone who thought that the fact that we, as a country, elected Barack Obama President meant that we had crossed over into some post-racial wonderland needs only to look to what has happened since to understand the precipice on which this country exists. Recommended.

I received a copy for review. All opinions are my own. A terrifying yet realistic look into how dangerous this country has become when it comes to hatred and bigotry. This is not simply a true crime book about Blase Bernstein’s tragic end, this is a book that is giving us all a long hard look at the state of the country and how unacceptable it is that hatred has become so normalized. I was really proud of the author for the research done and how well everything was explained. This book will touch you in your core. A must read for every American.