>>>If you want, I can also browse my uncle's book ("The Racist Mind") and see whether he mentions it from his in-person research with skinheads.

>This is not to in any way defend Neo-Nazis or the Aryan Brotherhood, but this discussion reminds me of one of the most striking movies I have seen in the past year (on DVD): "This is England". It is set during the Thatcher years and focuses on a young boy who falls in with a group of skinheads, before they had been co-opted from working class no-hopers by racists. In a historical sense it's important to remember that the original skinheads were not exactly what the term invokes now. IAC, good flick, and I encourage you to check it out. Don't worry, it's not one of those good-for-you preachy things. There is a story to it and good characterization. The skinheads become a sort of family for young Sean, who has recently lost a parent (won't spoil that one). I know I'm not making it sound like any fun at all, I didn't miss my calling of writing movie blurbs, LOL, but if you should find yourself interested in a movie a little off the beaten track, check it out. For a couple of hours it immerses you in a world completely foreign to your own and yet you find yourself captivated. IMO that is one of the points of movies as well as written fiction.

My uncle's book also makes it clear that many of these kids fall in with racist groups because they offer structure and family. The whole thing was actually pretty incredibly--he had little trouble getting access to these people, even though he was a middle-aged, middle-class, left-wing Jew who looked like what he was. It's a long time since I've read the book, but it was a fascinating read.

Tamar