Gerald L. K. Smith: Minister of Hate
This is the first substantial biography of Gerald Smith, the viciously anti-Semitic and anti-black preacher-politician who led a fanatical segment of the "old Christian right" from the 1930s to the 1970s. Jeansonne provides useful information on Smith's life, from his flamboyant association with Huey Long to his final phase as a promoter of sacred tourist attractions in the Ozark Mountains. While competently researched, the biography is unfortunately neither very well written nor especially insightful. It spends too much time tediously recounting and criticizing Smith's pathological views, and except for a few thin psychological forays and political comments, offers little solid interpretation of Smith's bizarre character and career or of the dynamics of the ultra-right movement. Mel Piehl, Valparaiso Univ., Ind.Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.