William Dudley Pelley: A Life in Right-Wing Extremism and the Occult

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Syracuse University Press, Oct 17, 2005 - Biography & Autobiography - 298 pages
William Dudley Pelley was one of the most important figures of the anti-Semitic radical right in the twentieth century. Best remembered as the leader of the paramilitary "Silver Shirts," Pelley was also an award-winning short story writer, Hollywood screenwriter, and religious leader. During the Depression Pelley was a notorious presence in American politics; he ran for president on a platform calling for the ghettoization of American Jews and was a defendant in a headlinegrabbing sedition trial thanks to his unwavering support for Nazi Germany. Scott Beekman offers not only a political but also an intellectual and literary biography of Pelley, greatly advancing our understanding of a figure often dismissed as a madman or charlatan. His belief system, composed of anti-Semitism, economic nostrums, racialism, neo-Theosophical channeling, and millenarian Christianity, anticipates the eclecticism of later cult personalities such as Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shinrikyo, and the British conspiracy theorist David Icke. By charting the course of Pelley's career, Beekman does an admirable job of placing Pelley within the history of both the anti-Semitic right and American occult movements. This exhaustively researched book is a welcome addition to the growing body of scholarship on American extremism and esoteric religions.
 

Contents

Early Years 18901915
xvii
Paris and Asia 19161919
15
Hollywood 19201927
31
Seven Minutes in Eternity 19281929
49
Liberation 19301932
60
Silver Shirts 1933
77
Extremists 1934
92
Tribulation 19341936
103
Silver Shirts Redux 19371939
115
Sedition
129
Soulcraft 19501965
142
Epilogue
157
Notes
165
Bibliography
233
Index
265
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About the author (2005)

Scott Beekman is visiting assistant professor of history at Ohio University. He lives in Athens, Ohio, with his wife, historian Kimberly K. Little, and son, Miller.

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