White hot hate A true story of domestic terrorism in America's heartland

Dick Lehr

Book - 2021

"For fans of I'll Be Gone in the Dark, the thrilling true story of a would-be terrorist attack against a Kansas farming town's immigrant community, and the FBI informant who exposed it. In the spring of 2016, as immigration debates rocked the United States, three men in a militia group known as the Crusaders grew aggravated over one Kansas town's growing Somali community. They decided that complaining about their new neighbors and threatening them directly wasn't enough. The men plotted to bomb a mosque, aiming to kill hundreds and inspire other attacks against Muslims in America. But they would wait until after the presidential election, so that their actions wouldn't hurt Donald Trump's chances of winnin...g. An FBI informant befriended the three men, acting as law enforcement's eyes and ears for six months. His secretly taped conversations with the militia were pivotal in obstructing their plans and were a lynchpin in the resulting trial and convictions for conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. White Hot Hate will tell the riveting true story of an averted case of domestic terrorism in one of the most remote towns in the US, not far from the infamous town where Capote's In Cold Blood was set. In the gripping details of this foiled scheme, we see in intimate focus the chilling, immediate threat of domestic terrorism-and racist anxiety in America writ large."--

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Subjects
Genres
True crime stories
Published
Boston : Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers [2021]
Language
English
Main Author
Dick Lehr (author)
Physical Description
xii, 401 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780358359906
9780358578420
9780358578833
  • Prologue: a call to arms
  • The accidental informant
  • Minuteman
  • Crusaders 2.0
  • "The cockroaches gotta go"
  • "Go big or go home"
  • Guys, meet Brian
  • "Will, determination, and dedication second to none"
  • Plot interrupted
  • Epilogue: trials.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Pulitzer finalist Lehr (Dead Reckoning) delivers a dramatic chronicle of a domestic terrorist plot thwarted by the FBI. At the heart of the story is Dan Day, an out-of-work probation officer in Garden City, Kans., who in 2015 became an informant for the FBI on right-wing militia groups in southwestern Kansas. In retaliation for the ISIS-inspired attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., members of one of those groups, the local division of the Kansas Security Force, plotted to bomb an apartment building and mosque in Garden City where Somali Muslims lived and worshipped. Day recorded his conversations with the plotters and introduced them to an undercover FBI agent posing as a black-market arms dealer; thanks to Day's testimony, three KSF members were eventually convicted and sentenced to long prison terms. Lehr skillfully draws from Day's recordings to highlight the risks he took (at one point, he got sick and passed out at a militia meeting with a recording device in his pocket), and weaves in illuminating details about the cultural dynamics of the Midwest and moving profiles of Somali refugees who could have been killed in the attack. The result is a chilling and finely wrought portrait of the threat of political extremism. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts. (Nov.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Former Boston Globe reporter Lehr (journalism, Boston Univ.) tells the incredible story of a white supremacist terrorism plot in Garden City, KS, and the man who helped foil it. In 2016, Dan Day was invited by a former coworker to join the Three Percenters, a right-wing militia group, but he was alarmed by their animosity toward the Somali community in their Kansas farming town. When local FBI agents told Day they were monitoring the group, he agreed to help infiltrate it. He was drawn deeper into a militia rabbit hole over eight months and met three men who formed the Crusaders, an offshoot of the Three Percenters. Day briefed the FBI as the Crusaders tested bomb materials and planned an attack on a mosque; they were arrested before they could carry it out. Lehr had access to trial transcripts and interviewed Day, as well as FBI agents Amy Kuhn and Robin Smith, for this terrifying story that closely examines the radical belief systems of American white supremacist groups. VERDICT A strong addition to true crime sections, this disturbing work will also appeal to readers interested in the development of modern hate groups.--Amelia Osterud, Milwaukee P.L.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

How an ordinary American citizen thwarted the sinister plot of a homegrown militant hate group at the dawn of the Trump era. Investigative journalist Lehr tells the story of Dan Day, a lifelong Kansan family man and unemployed former probation officer who, in 2015, infiltrated a local militia group as their "intelligence officer" while reporting their conspiracy plots to the FBI. In the wake of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, perpetrated by a young man who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group, a tightly knit terrorist militia group calling itself the Kansas Security Force sought retaliation against the concentrated Somali Muslim population of Garden City. They planned to bomb an apartment building and a mosque. Using sworn testimonies, federal court documents, and more than 100 hours of Day's hidden audio and video camera recordings, Lehr chronicles the entire ordeal with seamless ease, studding the narrative with numerous moments of taut true-crime tension. Day was fully immersed in KSF, gaining the trust of the three key "Crusaders"--Patrick Stein, Curtis Allen, and Gavin Wright--and he introduced them to "Brian," an undercover FBI agent posing as an arms dealer. The author expertly captures these moments with vivid imagery and often frightening detail, and he clearly shows the true criminal nature of the terrorist mindset and how conspiracy plots are hatched and developed. He also profiles the lives of Somali citizens in Garden City, the refugee experience, and how that community thrives despite the ever present fear of racist violence. Lehr is a seasoned journalist whose distinguished career includes crisply probed accounts of organized crime bosses and police brutality coverups. In this report, his lucid investigative prowess once again creates a dramatic tapestry of hate, hope, and justice. He also offers a cautionary reminder about the pervasive presence of political extremism in America. Comprehensive, riveting reportage on the enduring fight against domestic terrorism and racial violence. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.