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raulbime's review against another edition
4.0
This book, as the title aptly suggests, is about the life of Lawrence Dennis. A fascinating and, in ways, frightening life. Dennis’s origins have been unclear for years, and investigators, biographers, and agencies like the FBI have long searched to find out who the man really was. He was biracial, born to a Black mother, and precocious enough to be a renowned child preacher who toured the U.S. and Europe before he went into school, the military, and later the diplomatic service. But born in the American South and aware of the barriers colour placed on those who weren't white, he passed for white. Despite suspicions about his race that followed him throughout his public life, he garnered enough respect and connections to place himself as a leading fascist leader, even though he is now forgotten.
Unlike someone like Walter White who passed to gain access into Ku Klux Klan groups and pass on information to the NAACP about their planned murders and terrorist activities, Dennis simply passed for very selfish reasons and aligning with Hitler and Mussolini. Instead he took advantage of the economic depression, as fascists tend to, to service himself to such a cause, fully aware of its implications. Gerald Horne works incredibly well with the scant information that was available to him and paints a well researched portrait of this man’s life and his times.
Unlike someone like Walter White who passed to gain access into Ku Klux Klan groups and pass on information to the NAACP about their planned murders and terrorist activities, Dennis simply passed for very selfish reasons and aligning with Hitler and Mussolini. Instead he took advantage of the economic depression, as fascists tend to, to service himself to such a cause, fully aware of its implications. Gerald Horne works incredibly well with the scant information that was available to him and paints a well researched portrait of this man’s life and his times.
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