Amazon store listings for the infamous white supremacist novel The Turner Diaries have been removed, replaced with a “page not found” message, indicating the item is no longer available for purchase. Amazon has seen pushback from critics in recent days for its decision to sell the novel, which The Los Angeles Times specifically called out for providing a roadmap to last week’s deadly attack on the US Capitol.
The removal comes in the wake of Amazon’s widespread purge of products and texts related to the QAnon conspiracy movement on Monday, as well as its decision to no longer host the far-right social media platform Parler.
The Turner Diaries is not specifically related to the QAnon movement. But the novel espouses ideologies that overlap with those of QAnon believers, many of whom think President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against a cabal of child predators who run the country that will one day require them to participate in a violent overthrow of the US government.
Published in 1978 by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald, The Turner Diaries depicts a fictional coup in the US conducted by an underground group of white supremacists, of which the main character becomes a central leader, and the ensuing widespread genocide that results. The book has been cited as a foundational text for modern racist and anti-Semitic groups and movements, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Amazon declined to comment on the removal of The Turner Diaries. But the company has policies that prohibit the sale of offensive or inappropriate products and began banning QAnon merchandise and other items starting earlier this week, Reuters reported on Monday. Amazon has also started removing merchandise from far-right militia movements, some of which participated in the attack on the Capitol and have continued promoting violent insurrection in the lead-up to Inauguration Day, reports Recode.
Unfortunately, searches on Amazon for “The Turner Diaries” still return related and questionable texts, including the The Anarchist Cookbook — an infamous DIY guide to bomb-making — and lesser-known texts about an impending second American Civil War.
