Aryan Visions for the Future in the West Virginia Mountains

This article examines the worldview of William Pierce, a prominent figure among fringe right and neo-Nazi groups. A self-proclaimed ‘race separatist’, Pierce established his own spiritual community in the mountains of south-eastern West Virgina in 1985. Characterized by an idiosyncratic blend of ideas including Darwinian evolution, Teutonic mythology, and the ‘scientific’ findings of early racial theorists Pierce's Cosmotheist Community observes an unusual religion based on notions of racial destiny and the Aryan path to god-hood. Home to a small group of devoted believers, the Cosmotheist Community looks toward the day when a white revolution will topple an American government thought to be corrupted by ‘Jewish interests’. Generally viewed as the intellectual leader of the American far right, Pierce is the author of The Turner Diaries (1978), a violent, futuristic novel which may have influenced the perpetrators of the Oklahoma City bombing. Pierce is director of National Alliance, an organization dedicated to the ‘racial purification’ of North America. Specializing in the production of anti-Semitic and racial propaganda, National Alliance has become a lucrative operation. This article is based on an interview conducted with Pierce.