From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the powerful story of what sort of prominent white supremacist changed his heart and brain

Derek Black was raised at the epicenter of white nationalism. His father founded Stormfront, the biggest racist community on the Internet. His godfather, David Duke, was a KKK Grand Wizard. By enough time Derek transformed nineteen, he had become an elected politician with his personal daily radio present – already thought to be the ‘the leading light’ from the burgeoning white nationalist about Increasing Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former Light Nationalist movement. ‘We can infiltrate,’ Derek once told a audience of white nationalists. ‘We can take the country back.’

Then he visited college. Derek have been home-schooled by his parents, steeped in the tradition of white supremacy, and he had rarely encountered diverse perspectives or immediate outrage against his beliefs. At New University of Florida, he continuing to broadcast his radio present in secret each morning, living a double life until a classmate uncovered his identity and sent an email to the entire school. ‘Derek Black…white supremacist, radio host…New College student???’

The ensuing uproar overtook probably one of the most liberal colleges in the united states. Some students protested Derek’s presence on campus, forcing him to reconcile for the very first time using the ugliness his values. Other students found out the courage to attain out to him, including an Orthodox Jew who asked Derek to wait weekly Shabbat dinners. It was because of those dinners–and the wide-ranging human relationships shaped at that table–that Derek started to question the science, history and prejudices behind his worldview. As white nationalism infiltrated the political mainstream, Derek decided to confront the damage he had done.

Rising Out of Hatred tells the story of how white-supremacist concepts migrated through the far-right fringe towards the White House through the intensely personal saga of 1 man who ultimately disavowed everything he was taught to believe, at great personal cost. With great empathy and narrative verve, Eli Saslow asks what Derek’s tale can tell us about America’s more and more divided nature. This is a publication to help us understand the American moment and to help us better understand one another.