This outstanding book helps us to understand the social and pyschological dy-
namics that have led to the development of the skinheads in particular and of
social movements based on hatred in general. It provides refreshing insights uti-
lizing diverse sociological theories of crime and deviance. Mark Hamm's theory
is refreshingly eclectic; he avoids the tendency of many writers to ignore the
value of what are often seen as incompatible theories. He is at ease integrating
reinforcement theory with Marxist dialectics, which in the end provides a multi-
level analysis that is original and provocative.

Mark Hamm has delved into worlds where few sociologists dare to venture. In
an era when social research is dominated by data gathered from the milking of
government publications and the responses of faceless people to stilted question-
naires, he has risked interviewing people who are not exactly friendly to academ-
ics. He has endured listening to music that is more painful to the ears than were
the Doc Marten boots that kicked his shins for his being seen with an Indonesian
prostitute. By taking chances and using the best of sociological observational and
interviewing methods, he has brought to life a world that most of us otherwise
would not know.

And there is the music. The medium carries a message; and the message works
to convert people to a belief system based on violence and hatred.

The skinheads are a world unto themselves. The more they are attacked, the
stronger grow the internal ties.

Not content to hide behind the apron of the impartial observer, Mark Hamm
makes an impassioned plea for developing strategies that would turn the tide of
neo-Nazi terrorist groups. The research and imagination of the author provide a
sound basis for developing these strategies.

In recent years we have seen a resurgence of outstanding ethnographies: Martin Jankowski's
Islands in the Streets, Eleanor Miller Street Woman, Terry William's
Cocaine Kids, and Judith Rollins' Between Women, to name but a few.
Mark Hamm's contribution takes its place at the top of sociological ethnographies
along with this distinguished list. The book will serve not only to educate us, our
students, and the public, it may well encourage other sociologists to leave the
cloistered halls of their universities and discover what is happening in the real
world.

Mark Hamm's fine work is social science at its best.

William J. Chambliss
George Washington University

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