American Fuehrer: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party | 
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Product Description
The founder of the American Nazi party and its leader until he was murdered in 1967, George Lincoln Rockwell was one of the most significant extremist strategists and ideologists of the postwar period. His influence has only increased since his death. A powerful catalyst and innovator, Rockwell broadened his constituency beyond the core Radical Right by articulating White Power politics in terms that were subsequently appropriated by the one-time klansman David Duke. He played a major role in developing Holocaust revisionism, now an orthodoxy of the Far Right. He also helped politicize Christian Identity, America's most influential right-wing religious movement, and welded together an international organization of neo-Nazis. All of these extremist movements continue to thrive today. Frederick Simonelli's biography of this powerful and enigmatic figure draws on primary sources of extraordinary depth, including declassified FBI files and manuscripts and other materials held by Rockwell's family and associates. The first objective assessment of the American Nazi party and an authoritative study of the roots of neo-nazism, neo-fascism, and White Power extremism in postwar America, "American Fuehrer" is shocking and absorbing reading.
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Customer Reviews:
• Biased 14 June, 2007
Not that the discerning reader can't get a lot of good info out of this book but it appears to me that the author went out of his way to portray Rockwell as a loser, a misfit, and someone in need of psychiatric care.
Simonelli somehow managed to get access to much of Rockwells personal correspondences but it seems that he selectively used them to point out instances of turmoil and sadness in Rockwells state of mind. He especially uses Rockwells feelings of despondency about his wife, who was the daughter of the Icelandic ambassador to America, leaving him and taking their children back to Iceland with her. I don't think its a particuarly radical statement for me to say that feeling sad about losing your wife and kids is a sign of being normal. Simonelli somehow manages to twist this into an example of Rockwell being an insane loser.
The other bio of Rockwell, Hate by William Schmaltz, is a far superior and unbiased account of GLR's life and highly recomended. However I can only recomend American Fuehrer to somebody who is researching Rockwell and knows how to read with a discerning eye.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2SJ11EMIOBLHH
• Only Hope For Amrica! 22 April, 2002
Rockwell may have been the only hope to how our world became today. America no longer the same country it was say 30 years ago. mass non-white immigration from third world nations flooding America has taken away the spiritual beauty of this once proud land.Rockwell was our only hope.if he live today.the Nazi Party may have gotton a good start.Rockwell was indeed the Greatest man who walked this nation!
- Reviewed by customer ID: AXBGIQUB02VUT
• Engulfing From The Opening Page. Great Book! 19 October, 2007
I enjoyed this book and felt it was a fair treatment of the subject. Dr. Simonelli is a highly respected historian and can be seen providing insight on networks such as The History Channel.
I found that many of the other negative comments on this web site appeared bias to begin with.
I would suggest reading the book and treating it as what it was meant to be. Overall 5 stars.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2FTLM9W0CE6VE
• The Fuehrer Who Never Was 12 November, 2008
I am in the collectibles business, so when someone at my booth at a trade show says they are into Rockwell, I can always get laughs from other customers by asking "Norman or George Lincoln?" That alone testifies to the mark that George Lincoln Rockwell and his American Nazi Party, though small in numbers, left on modern American political history.
American Fuehrer purports to be the first biography of Rockwell written by someone who is not a Rockwell supporter and overall, it is a pretty good one. Though author Frederick J Simonelli goes to frequent pains to remind the reader that he finds Rockwell's views to be loathsome, he also is careful not to fall into the trap of constant name-calling that ensnares many other authors who write about the so-called racist right.
In this book, the reader learns about Rockwell's life before he became a Nazi and a racialist and in so learning can form his own theories about why Rockwell turned to Hitler for inspiration. One also learns about the difficulties Rockwell encountered using the image of Hitler and the symbolism of the Nazis as a recruiting tool so soon after we fought them in World War II. Unlike Hitler, Rockwell found it difficult to attract anything but the rabble to his cause. Competent organizers and administrators were few and far between. But one thing is clear, Rockwell thrived on nearly universal opprobrium.
I was only twelve years old when Rockwell was assassinated but remember seeing Nazis around in San Diego and the Nazi headquarters in El Monte later when I was a teenager. I saw their pamphlets, newspapers, and even the "Diary of Ann Fink" mentioned by the author that uniformed Nazis used to leave in public places. Reading these items gave a lot of teens the same frisson of anti-establishment glee they got when reading the ubiquitous LA Free Press or the Berkeley Barb. Few of them were motivated to anything beyond snickering at their sheer audacity. But reading American Fuehrer should motivate you to see George Lincoln Rockwell, The Fuehrer Who Never Was, not just as the bit player he was always destined to be but also as a man whose ideas had far greater influence beyond the grave than they ever had in his lifetime.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1ODZ7SDUPEGNK
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