Opening up with a tale of backroom deals between politicians and far-right, fundamentalist Christian groups, White traces the early history to the present of various high profile Christian leaders and their plans to destroy any rights of gays and lesbians.
Conspiracies abound through out Holy Terror, and would make anyone terrified of being gay or lesbian in America if you take what White is saying truly seriously.
However, this book was written in 2006 and while most editions update to present new information, this book does not. Six years ago the future of gay and lesbian rights looked bleak. Since then there have been huge strides forward, such as the abolishment of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, some states legalizing marriage equality, and the Democrats adding the support of equal marriage in their party platform.
While I believe the intent of Holy Terror is good and true, White includes chapters comparing the Christian Right to Nazis. As someone who feels that the only time one should make a Nazi comparison is when a group of people are being specifically targeted and killed for who they are, I think the book was over the top and lost a lot of credibility.
Holy Terror would work well in a public library setting, but, because it does not reflect the current state of the gay and lesbian affairs, it would do well in a history section rather than current affairs.
Reviewer: Talia Earle, MLIS Student
St. Catherine University, Minnesota