Strange People on the Hill
How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town
-
- $18.99
-
- $18.99
Publisher Description
A gripping story that reveals what happened to a small American town when an influential white nationalist group relocated its headquarters there, illustrating how radical changes in American politics impact our psyches and divide our communities.
“A timely and engagingly written account by an expert on extremism and hate groups.” ―Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen
When the white nationalist group VDARE used dark money to purchase a historic castle overlooking Berkeley Springs in West Virginia, America’s “cold civil war” spilled into this scenic tourist town.
From behind the imposing stone walls of their castle, VDARE’s Peter and Lydia Brimelow spread propaganda focused on the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, sowing discord in the once peaceful town below. In an attempt to restore civility, a group of neighbors banded together to oppose VDARE’s presence in Berkeley Springs.
Strange People on the Hill urgently demonstrates how extreme reactionary ideology and the national politics that embody it disrupt the lives of everyday Americans while highlighting the intimate relationship between violent, racist radicalism and what now passes for mainstream conservatism.
Through extensive on-the-ground reporting, renowned researcher and investigative reporter Michael Edison Hayden shows how the politicized culture wars manifest in deeply personal dramas and conflicts in a moving narrative about how the people of Berkeley Springs are bravely standing up against hate and division and forging a community built on inclusivity, respect, and neighborliness.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In February 2020, white nationalist group VDARE purchased a $1.4 million castle in the historic West Virginia town of Berkeley Springs, touching off a dramatic fracturing of the community's social fabric that journalist Hayden explores in his resonant and troubling debut investigation. The author first arrived in town as a reporter specializing in far-right hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Drawing on four years of on-the-ground reporting, he details the residents' responses to VDARE. While some quietly embraced its presence, others came to see it as an almost mythic antagonist. This divergence pitted neighbor against neighbor, culminating in the creation of an anonymous website, Berkeley Springs Castle Watchers, that maintains a list of "collaborators." Hayden juxtaposes the rupture of Berkeley Springs with the deterioration of his own mental health, brought on by the stress of death threats and doxxing by the far right, as well as upheaval within the SPLC. He also shows how VDARE's presence seemed to inflame issues it didn't directly touch—such as the "fissure... that deepened over time" between two business-owning families over a Pride flag—and how easily these gripes escalated into violence, as in the case of a man arrested for threatening to kill BLM protestors in response to rumors that "antifa soldiers" were coming to town. It's a captivating, unsettling up-close look at America's increasingly vicious partisan split.
