The Silent Brotherhood: The Chilling Inside Story of America's Violent, Anti-Government Militia Movement

by Kevin Flynn, Gary Gerhardt

This is the terrifying story of the most dangerous radical-right hate group to surface since the Ku Klux Klan first rode a century ago. The Silent Brotherhood attracted seemingly average citizens with their call for pride in race, family, and religion and their mission to save white, Christian America from a communist conspiracy. Here is how they became criminals and assassins in their effort to establish an Aryan homeland. 8-page photo insert.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, True Crime, Crime, Terrorism, Politics, War

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Mr. James Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly entertaining, but obviously hostile, account of Robert Matthews' The Order.

[John Schorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book demonstrates that the anger and violence that stems from racism in this country never really goes away. The events described here that happened in the 1980s could just as easily have taken place this year.

There are two things that detract from the book's effectiveness.

The first is that it contains a huge cast of characters, and there are many times where it is hard to keep track of everyone and what they are doing.

The second is more problematic. There are a great number of extremely vivid and detailed conversations related throughout the book. At times, you're amazed at the content.

Then, in the last paragraph of the book itself, in the acknowledgments, you read that the authors "do not contend that all the dialogue quoted in this book represents the actual words spoken at the time..." The conversations were reconstructed from testimonies and interviews. Perhaps it might have been better to admit that from the start rather than wait until the very end?

People interested in this story should check out a new movie called The Order, starring Jude Law. It offers a condensed version of these events and does so in a very effective manner.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressed with how even keeled this story was. Of course it was written in a diffrent time and different world. The book states facts and sees the people involved as humans with their light and darkness. In the end its a tragedy, one that were all heading for and are much closer to nowdays.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't want my rating to come off as I "liked" this book. The book was informational. However, this book was terrifying. I could go on and on about how fucked up these brainwashed white supremacists are. The men and women in this book are disgusting. One of them straight up ate a fucking dog bro.
I honestly was surprised how many women were okay with what their husbands were doing. A lot of them had families that were continuously put in danger by their actions.

While I am glad the book ended with all of their arrests and a paragraph about what happened to each piece of shit...I found it interesting that most of their charges were robbery, racketeering, etc. Mostly to do with money. Outside of the few that were charged with Berg's murder. Most of these men went out of there way to harass, hurt, threaten black men and Jewish men but none of those issues seemed to come up in court.

Also to find out that more than 1 of these psychos is from MO is super gross.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This true crime thriller was originally titled The Silent Brotherhood but was renamed upon re-release after the film The Order came out. The book follows Bob Matthews, a white supremacist, from his birth in rural Texas to his teenage years obsessing over the John Birch Society to his survivalist camp in the Pacific Northwest. Matthews became the ringleader of an especially violent offshoot of the Aryan Nations in Idaho during the early 1980s, responsible for armed robberies, assassinations, and other terror campaigns. The authors lay out his white power ideology and the founding of the Silent Brotherhood, or “The Order.” Particularly inspired by The Turner Diaries, Matthews and his supporters had a long-term goal of overthrowing the U.S. government.

Like many true crime thrillers, there are a lot of names to keep track of. The book moves quickly and kept me very engaged, though simultaneously horrified—especially by the connections between this dangerous right-wing militant group and a nearby white identity church in Laporte, Colorado. Although it was published over thirty years ago, it offers insight into the philosophy of right-wing extremists who later helped lead the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, where rioters threatened to hang the vice president and members of Congress. I’d recommend both this book and the film The Order to readers interested in better understanding the grievances and violent ideology of right-wing survivalist and militant groups.

[Rob1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing how relevant this book is today.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story, but poorly written book. Every chapter introduces new people with overly detailed backstories and so many of them don’t really matter to the main plot. The end result is a mind numbing amount of info burying the core story being told. After watching The Order I was hoping for some more history on the events, but really just got a ton of inconsequential information. The movie, although slightly fictionalized, is a better and more coherent retelling of what happened.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well written, detailed story of a racist underground located in the northwest. Really disturbing what kind of stuff happens with weapon stockpiling and counterfeiting and survivalist camps that we never even hear about. I had the opportunity to speak to the case agent for this case and he is a really interesting person. I would highly recommend.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came to the book hoping it would look deeply at why people get sucked into extremism, but it really is just a storytelling/true crime account of what happened. Well written in that regard, just wasn't what I was hoping for. (I gave 3/5 stars because including that missing piece is what could make this book stellar).

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent account of the Order, a neo-Nazi terrorist group.

[Matthew Pelligrino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and terrifying story…although it could use a bit of editing in a refresh.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had previously read Brotherhood of Murder by Thomas Martinez and was intrigued to learn more about this racist gang and their fairly long run of criminal escapades. Martinez, really, was a fringe player to the group and not intimately involved in the counterfeiting (he distributed not printed), murders, and robberies as he was in Philadelphia dealing with his legal defense and doubts. This book is a much more detailed history of the group and its doings. I read it just before seeing

[daniel sinclair · Rating 1 out of 5]

slanted information. some valid.

some thought provoking on how we "got" here in our nation, 2022.

books on this silent "brotherhood" start with an end goal objective/agenda and then write the information, and "warped" facts to fit the object and end goal.

marketing here for this book. this topic is in the media and hyped.

i worked for a city government for over 25yrs and i observed extraordinarily racist, the militant brotherhood of "silence" from minorities and especially african americans and that, of course for marketing, is not communicate or covered in this book.

the author(s) portray racism can "absolutely" be of only one race and gender.

the book does not address the core topics like affirmative action and "diversity" on how we got to this point, either. just the "sub" groups/persons in our nation.

"if" in 1775 someone wrote a book of such with a marketing and inflammatory sub-title of "anti-government" and violence and militia.

in 2022 we would all still be subjects to the queen and bowing at Buckingham palace?

sad, slanted book on a topic that media talks about much, but nobody (including the authors) state: how we got here.

will not get past page 299 here.

[Heidi Bakk-Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm conflicted about this book. On the one hand, it's an exhaustive analysis of what happened within this small group of delusional racists who had convinced themselves that they were the "heroes" they were waiting for. On the other, it seems the authors (as journalists) decided to be as "balanced" as possible in order to get interviews with some of the most heinous people in the US. Which means that, down the line, this book could be used to inspire more of this murderous nonsense and skip over the obvious fact that they were, at baseline, cultists and out of touch with reality. Bob Mathews continues to be, as he wished, a martyr to his fucked up cause. And these days, all these idiots would just join ICE to get their racist rocks off. FDT

[James Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kevin Flynn's and Gary Gerhardt's "The Order: Inside America's Racist Underground" (previously published as "The Silent Brotherhood") is an unnerving look at the various racist hate groups operating in America during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The book's primary focus is on The Silent Brotherhood, a hate group that used the Pacific Northwest as its operations base. The group committed various armed robberies and also assassinated Alan Berg, a radio talk-show host. The group's actions alarmed the FBI, which assembled a task force to go after the Silent Brotherhood members. Readers who've seen the movie "The Order" and want to learn more about The Silent Brotherhood should seek "The Order: Inside America's Racist Underground."

[Katerina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topic and the authors include a lot of information and details. This is not a deep, or even a shallow, dive on this type of political threat but it’s a good book for a general audience.

My low rating is due to the writing. The story is good and detailed but it was a hard read - hard because it reads like an extremely long newspaper article. It’s 400 pages of stuffy language. The entire time (as with many other books) I kept thinking “imagine what Patrick Radden Keefe could have done with this kind of story,” which I am aware is not fair to the authors but the writing made an interesting story almost 🥱.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book I read was called "The Order" because it was the movie edition of the book. It was pretty good, but somewhat repetitive. The group was always plotting and visiting other groups. They did pull off a couple of robberies and a couple of murders, but it was a couple of simple mistakes the initiated their downfall. This group was from the 1980's, so everything was done by phone calls, letters, or in person visits. Today, with the internet they must but much better connected and organized, which is really scary!

[Chad Montabon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers the material well and is paced the way a story like this should be.

It reads like true crime, but there are a lot of moving parts to what is a fairly simple story. I hadn't realized how much Bob Roberts and his group got away with before arrest, or really even being tested. There are some good references to Morris Dees for those interested, but if you are looking for an FBI procedural or a courtroom drama, this isn't it.

[Kimmy Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you open your eyes and realize .002 percent of the world are jooish and run the government,the media the banks the stock market all the fast food and most huge companies lawyers the courts essentially the world it would make you angry to ...y’all got google use it to see who owns what? ask questions .

[Fred Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

So very slow moving in developing and telling the story, it got to be a slop to finish. Could have been half as many pages and told the same story (the detail, yeesh). The story itself, white supremacists trying to start and fund a race war in the northwest, was very interesting. I remember the Alan Berg murder happening but didn't know the rest.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading if you are at all interested in politics and racism and the white power movement in the PNW. This is made all the more interesting because of the political atmosphere we are currently in. It seems that nothing has changed in the milita movement in the last 30 years.

[sarah c]

Great book loved it

[Sean Watson]

Crazy story that was well written and researched.

[Jacob Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A in depth dive into the world of white supremacy. A fascinating read. The writing style was fine but because of the plethora of names, the plot sometimes got lost in a mess of characters.

[Arnav roychoudhury · Rating 3 out of 5]

gritty... bloody... 3.5 ⭐⭐ ⭐✨

[Louis Rios · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frustrating. Misguided Christianity, overzealous patriotism and making oneself a victim to your circumstances is a dangerous combination.

[Emm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informational and very scary to think about. Some parts were slow but overall very good book to learn about what’s going on in some people’s minds.

[Carlos Dragonné · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sin duda un básico para entender lo pobre que es la memoria norteamericana. No se trata de buscar referencias en los 1930’s. Solo en los 70 y 80 el movimiento ultra derecha ha estado buscando conquistar la narrativa. Y al fin lo lograron. Pero sin duda hay que entender que es algo que llevaban tiempo construyendo y perfeccionando. No llegó Trump y y sus patanes por coincidencia.

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book on our racial atmosphere today.

[Mirza Sultan-Galiev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Mathews was an idiot. He didn't understand the importance of an organized and mobilized mass base nor the necessity of compartmentalization in clandestine movements. If only every Nazi were so dumb.