The Violence of Hate: Confronting Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Other Forms of Bigotry

by Jack Levin, Jim Nolan

This text explores two forms of hate and prejudice – racism in contemporary American society and the historical occurrence of anti-Semitism – under a single conceptual framework. Jack Levin, is a well-known scholar, author, and lecturer on the subject of hate crimes. In this book he shows how support for both racism and anti-Semitism can be conceptualized as occurring among four hatemongers, dabblers, sympathizers, and spectators. Levin argues that hate and prejudice continue at a very dangerous level in our society, and that hate typically emanates not from the ranting and raving of a few people at the margins of society, but from ordinary people in the mainstream. Jim Nolan , new to this edition, is an Associate Professor at West Virginia University, and a former FBI agent, specializing in hate crimes and prejudice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2001

About the author

Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts where he teaches courses in prejudice and violence.

Reviews

[Ida · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was taking a diversity class at my local community college called "Racial and Cultural Minorities".

"The Violence of Hate" was a mandatory book assignment for a diversity classs. The teacher said he was going to give us extra credit if we'd write up a little critique about it. Since there wasn't much on the net about this when I first wrote my 2003 critique, I figured I'd share it with the rest of you, too.

The book is written by Dr. Jack Levin, a professor of Sociology and Criminology. He's also director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Northeastern University in Boston.

Although boring at times, the book was educational. It gives the reader an overview of hate terminology and clarifies their meanings. It made me realize that even though I am not prejudiced, I was a "spectator"- much like the Germans who failed to act during the Nazi regime, I have also witnessed bigotry and failed to speak up against it.

It explains the psychological and economic advantages of bigotry with lots of statistics and book references. This was the part that I found most tedious.

There were some interesting parts to this book such as his personal recollections about appearing on the Jerry Springer show with three racist skinheads. Another story of a white woman who, several years before, was being treated for cancer in South Africa was fascinating. She had a reaction to chemotherapy which turned her skin dark, and she got a first hand experience of the cruelness of Apartheid.

I wish he had elaborated on his personal experiences a bit more.

At the end of the book is a list of Anti-Hate Websites.
I'm an Internet geek, so I found these to be helpful; especially since another extra credit assignment involved visiting one and writing a paper about it. It would have been more complete had he included a list of Hate websites as well. (I also visited a few of these as well and they were horrifying but ultimately more interesting.)

If history interests you, you might enjoy it a little bit more than I did. I did learn a little so I guess that's worth something. Ultimately, if it wasn't for the class, I don't think I would have ever read this.

[John Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read for those interested in the history of prejudice and discrimination. Much of the focus went towards anti-Jewish, Black, white supremacy, and gay discriminations. It is not so much about placing the blame of discrimination, but more on the factors that drive discrimination, and how best to recognize such forms.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains a series of essays / discussions on racism / bigotry.

I found this book reasonably interesting – but much of it I had seen / read before and it came across as a very long newspaper article.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative