# What'd you think of the Turner Diaries?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatd-you-think-of-the-turner-diaries/121428>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 29, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatd-you-think-of-the-turner-diaries/121428 "2002-07-29T21:39:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ace_of_Swords)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatd-you-think-of-the-turner-diaries/121428/1 "2002-07-29T21:39:15Z")

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The author of the Turner Diaries, William Pierce passed last week, to which most say good riddance – in fact there’s a pit thread saying just that – but I was curious:

Have any of you read the book?

What did you think?

Personally, I found the book to have a gripping plot, poor writing, flimsy characters, and of course, jaw-droppingly racist. But you might have guessed that – but also, I found the parallels between the actions depicted in the book and the Oklahoma City bombing to be eerie. And I noticed other events that were, to my eyes, Turner Diaries-Inspired. Thoughts?

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**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatd-you-think-of-the-turner-diaries/121428/2 "2002-07-30T04:13:21Z")

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I read it online after seeing the Pit thread. I say read, when actually it was more like suffered through. The writing was worse then your average fifth-grade composition, the story was not that engaging, and the racial hatred just added an ignorant, almost moronic quality you don’t normally get in propaganda. I honestly can’t believe that this waste of time inspired anyone. Intelligent people need not apply.

-brianjedi

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**Author:** ![DemonSpawn52](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f17d59/32.png) [@DemonSpawn52](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonSpawn52)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatd-you-think-of-the-turner-diaries/121428/3 "2002-07-30T06:40:55Z")

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The writing is so completely dreadful that I could barely bring myself to read a chapter of it. That is enough, however, to give a fair and objective review: It’s utter garbage.

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**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatd-you-think-of-the-turner-diaries/121428/4 "2002-07-30T12:52:40Z")

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Garbage indeed, but interesting. I wonder how many people read this and thought of the narrator as an anti-hero - I mean, the logic is skewed, the hate is intense…a la American Psycho I thought.

My betting is that more people than not would see the flaws in Pierce’s argument through this anti-everything rhetoric.

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**Author:** ![The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ace_of_Swords)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatd-you-think-of-the-turner-diaries/121428/5 "2002-07-30T14:24:31Z")

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I suppose nobody had the tenacity or pig-stubborness to read the sequel?

You’d think there’d be no market for garbage, but I keep hearing about this film, Caligula… 🙂