A new book by former Los Angeles Times and New York Times journalist Eric Lichtblau argues that the January 2018 murder of a Jewish college student in Orange County, Calif., reflects the increasing danger of white supremacist ideology.
In American Reich: A Murder in Orange County, Neo-Nazis and a New Age of Hate, which was published on Tuesday, Lichtblau writes that the killing was not an isolated act of violence but part of a broader pattern of extremist movements.
In November 2024, Samuel Woodward, 27, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Blaze Bernstein, 19, and was convicted of a hate crime. Prosecutors stated at trial that Woodward was affiliated with the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, according to media reports.
A New York Times review of the book notes that Lichtblau documents “the rise of hateful stabbings, beatings and shootings in Southern California” as well as a “litany of bloodshed” elsewhere, such as the mass shooting at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018.
“Lichtblau’s reporting and new book make devastatingly clear that white supremacist ideology is not abstract or historical,” Joey Good, senior director of community relations for the Jewish Federation of Orange County, told JNS. “It has caused real, irreparable harm in our own Orange County.”
“‘American Reich’ forces an honest reckoning with that reality and underscores why combating hate through education, vigilance and cross-community partnership—core pillars of our work at Jewish Federation of Orange County—has never been more essential,” he said.
