The Turner Diaries is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce, the founder and chairman of National Alliance, a white nationalist group, published under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald.

A framing device which takes place in 2099 (100 years after the events depicted) gives the novel's main text a historical context, which is presented as the journal of Earl Turner, an active but not high-ranking member of a white nationalist movement known as the Organization.

In response to the Organization's actions, the System begins by implementing numerous repressive laws, by pushing for new surveillance measures, such as requiring citizens to possess a special passport at all times to permanently monitor where individuals are.

Its existence remains unknown both to ordinary Organization members and the System; inductees are given a poisonous capsule to kill themselves with in the event of capture.

Eventually, the Organization seizes the nuclear weapons at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California and targets missiles at New York City and Tel Aviv.

The Organization raids the houses of all individuals who have been reported to be race traitors in some way (such as lawyers, politicians, clergy, journalists, entertainers, etc.

These individuals are dragged from their homes and publicly hanged in the streets in Los Angeles in an event which comes to be known as the "Day of the Rope" (August 1, 1993).

The epilogue summarizes how, following the success of Turner's mission, the Organization went on to conquer the rest of the world and how all non-white races of people were murdered.

The epilogue concludes with the statement that "just 110 years after the birth of the Great One, the dream of a white world finally became a certainty... and the Order would spread its wise and benevolent rule over the earth for all time to come.

[5] Pierce himself was said by the Southern Poverty Law Center to have been "America’s most important neo-Nazi" as well as "the movement’s fiercest antisemitic ideologue".

[10] Among the possible influences, Berger listed the antebellum novels A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation, The Partisan Leader, Wild Southern Scenes, and Anticipations of the Future, which all used dystopian elements to criticize anti-slavery activism or North-South tensions.

[12] Viewed as a possible influence is Jack London's 1907 novel The Iron Heel, with which The Turner Diaries shares some similar themes, descriptions and its main narrative device (that of a work annotated by a future historian).

[13][14] While The Iron Heel is a pro-socialist novel, some socialists take issue with that label due to the book's racism and pessimistic attitudes.

[14] The 1969 novel The Spook Who Sat by the Door by black author Sam Greenlee is also seen as a possible influence on The Turner Diaries; the release of its film adaption was controversial and widely publicized.

Greenlee described it as "a training manual for guerrilla warfare", and all white characters in the book are racists who have exclusively hostile interactions with the protagonists.

[29] Dees stated that they had found the book in "almost every single case" of "white supremacy, neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan-type activity that resulted in violence that caused deaths and injuries to many innocent people".

Stuart defended his decision to republish the book by saying "I felt it was important the average American see how sick these minds are and how dreadful and perverted their thinking process is".

Although Amazon did not state a specific reason for the removal, it followed the company's purge of a number of self-published and small-press titles connected with QAnon from its platform.

[1] Ted Daniels said the characters were "pure cardboard, amounting to nothing more than names and actions, heroic or squalid according to Pierce’s racist morality" and that "death is the only life in this book.

[43] Brodie wrote that by correlating Christian views with the Organization, the narrative shows the members of the group as having a "single-mindedness of purpose" that is "one of the main attractions found in The Turner Diaries".

[41] The Anti-Defamation League identified The Turner Diaries as "probably the most widely-read book among far-right extremists; many [of them] have cited it as the inspiration behind their terrorist organizing and activities.

[21] An actual 1991 memorandum from the FBI described it as "a significant work and foundation document closely embraced by the leadership as well as rank and file members of the Right-wing, White Supremist [sic] Movement".

The phrase "Day of the Rope", in reference to the mass execution of "race traitors" in the novel, has also become common in white nationalist circles.

The White Power band Bound for Glory referred to the phrase in their 1994 song "The Hammer Falls Again (Ragnarok)", with the lyrics saying:[50][51]Politicians to Pope, there'll be no hope / There is no escaping the Day of the RopeThe book has inspired numerous hate crimes and acts of terrorism.

[52][53] Following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, whose perpetrator, Timothy McVeigh, was fixated on the novel, the book was brought to greater public attention.

[55] In the wake of the January 6 United States Capitol attack, historian Kathleen Belew argued that the book was an inspiration to the rioters.