We Are Proud Boys

After the 2016 election, Americans witnessed a frightening trend: the sudden rise of a host of new extremist groups across the country. Emboldened by a new president, they flooded political rallies and built fervent online presences, expanding rapidly until they were a regular sight at everyday demonstrations. Amid the chaos, one group emerged as a leader among the others, with matching outfits, bizarre rituals, and a reputation for violence: the Proud Boys.

From leading extremism reporter Andy Campbell, We Are Proud Boys is the definitive narrative exploration of this notorious street gang and all the far-right movements they’re connected to. Through groundbreaking new reporting, Campbell delivers the untold story of a gang of blundering, punch-happy goons who grew to become the centerpiece of American extremism and positioned themselves as the unofficial enforcement arm of the GOP. Beginning with their founding by Gavin McInnes, the media personality best known for co-founding VICE, Campbell takes us deep into the Proud Boys, laying bare their origins and their rise to prominence. As he exposes the group’s noxious culture and strange rituals, he reveals how the ultimate project of the Proud Boys–to desensitize Americans to political violence–has succeeded entirely, culminating with Republicans calling the January 6 insurrection “legitimate political discourse.” The bizarre, frightening story of the Proud Boys reveals the playbook they have created for domestic extremism, giving us the necessary insight to push back against radicalism in America before it swallows our democracy whole.

• “To learn from Andy Campbell’s brave book how Donald Trump inspired the Proud Boys and how FOX hosts and MAGA Republicans then normalized this hateful, violent group is to see with fresh horror the enormity of the January 6, 2021 plot to overturn the will of the voters—and why all the inciters and enablers of that ongoing attack on our country must be held accountable if democracy is to survive in America.”
  Nancy MacLean, National Book Award-finalist author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America
• “Andy Campbell brings together the pieces to help us understand the inner workings of one of the country’s most notorious far-right groups. An investigative feat, his work is essential reading for those wrestling to understand how homegrown extremist movements take hold and wreak havoc in America. With our country at such a precarious juncture—grappling with domestic terrorism, political polarization, and rampant disinformation—Campbell does the hard work of exposing the dangerous underbelly of the Proud Boys. A timely addition to the study of political violence in America.”
  Ali Soufan, former FBI Special Agent and author of Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State
• "This brilliant and hilarious book explains how the country lost its mind and grown men put on designer uniforms to fight imaginary enemies in the name of whatever their addled brains believed that freedom is. If you’ve ever wondered how a potent mix of creeping fascism, male insecurity and grift came close to upending American democracy, then read Andy Campbell’s book right now."
  Vegas Tenold, author of Everything You Love Will Burn: Inside the Rebirth of White Nationalism in America
• “Andy Campbell fearlessly pulls back the curtain on the most dangerous organization in America today and how it has unleashed a politics of violence and menace on the landscape. His detailed, insightful, and sometimes astonishing reportage reveals how their street thuggery poses a very real threat to democracy itself. We Are Proud Boys is the definitive text on this threat, both for academics and the public—but it also makes for a gripping (and disturbing) read.”
   
  David Neiwert, author of Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump and Red Pill, Blue Pill: How to Counteract the Conspiracy Theories That Are Killing Us