Review by Eleanor J. Bader

When Jonathan Pulphus was a sophomore at St. Louis University (SLU), a private, Jesuit college, 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson. It was 2014 and Brown’s death led to months of protests against systemic racism and abuse by law enforcement.

Pulphus was galvanized by the movement and, like other Black students at and beyond SLU, he became immersed in fighting racial discrimination both on campus and off. His own campus was active and alongside a group of peers, he began demanding more diverse course offerings and the recruitment of more faculty and students of color at SLU. The resultant 13-point Clock Tower Accords eventually included a commitment by school administrators to increase funding for African American Studies. The university also promised to increase financial aid for Black undergraduates, establish a Diversity Speaker series, and work on building better relationships with the local community. It was a significant victory — one that Pulphus is proud to have been part of.

With My People, his reflection on the Accords and his role as a campus leader-turned-community-organizer, is as much a history of this historical moment as it is an instruction guide for campus organizers. Filled with concrete lessons and wise commentary, the text lays out tactical mistakes made by the SLU students (and the groups they created, including the still-active Tribe X) and offers clear advice about how best to balance academic progress and activism. Moreover, his message to students who are new to progressive movements covers numerous topics, from how to stay on track to graduate to how to negotiate with administrators and forge intergenerational alliances. Throughout, the tone is practical and strategic.

With My People blends inspiration with political savvy. It’s an important how-to guide for student activists and fledgling organizers. What’s more, its straightforward prose makes it a valuable addition to books about social change, social justice, and sustained antiracist efforts.

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With My People: Life, Justice, and Activism Beyond the University by Jonathan Pulphus. Broadleaf Books, September 2025.

Reviewer bio: Eleanor J. Bader is a Brooklyn, NY-based journalist who writes about books and domestic social issues for Truthout, Rain Taxi, The Progressive, Ms. Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Indypendent.

Review by Eleanor J. Bader

It’s no secret that many mass shootings in the United States have been carried out by white men whose fury has been bolstered by Christian nationalist organizations and websites. How and why this hateful worldview has enticed so many young men is at the center of Angela Denker’s latest book, Disciples of White Jesus. Denker, an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as a journalist, is an adroit storyteller. And while the book focuses more on individual examples of teens and young adults who’ve been lured by rightwing hate groups than it does on probing how denominations can undermine these ideologies, it is nonetheless a valuable contribution to understanding boys and men as both victim and menace.

Denker is well-versed in the lies and misrepresentations that ground Christian nationalism, including the near-universal mainstream Christian presentation of Jesus as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, hunk who is violent, macho, and tough. “Most pernicious,” she writes, “is that weakness is to be avoided at all costs, that showing vulnerability and emotion is a recipe for disaster, a potential upheaval in a society that has placed white Christian men at the top of a teetering house of cards.”

For white males who are themselves teetering, or who see themselves as outcasts, feelings of isolation or shame typically lead to depression. Predictably, websites that blame feminism, DEI, or CRT can appeal to their perceived sense of entitlement and victimization. Add in reinforcing messages from racist-sexist-homophobic-xenophobic evangelical and fundamentalist preachers, and the mix is potent. Still, it’s in finding like-minded others that their youthful fury is stoked. As one former skinhead told Denker, he joined a hate group for the camaraderie; the politics came later. It’s a valuable insight for anyone working with disaffected young people.

All told, Disciples of White Jesus is a crash course in the marketing of toxic masculinity for white supremacist and Christian nationalist ends. It’s a powerful indictment.

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Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood by Angela Denker. Broadleaf Books, March 2025.

Reviewer bio: Eleanor J. Bader is a Brooklyn, NY-based journalist who writes about books and domestic social issues for Truthout, Rain Taxi, The Progressive, Ms. Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Indypendent.