He Didn’t Know the Klan Handshake. It Almost Cost Him His Life.

The “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a year ago this month served as a wake-up call for many Americans—a reminder that white supremacist groups remain a fixture in the country’s political landscape.

Some of the these groups have been around for decades, including neo-Nazis, skinheads, and of course, the Ku Klux Klan. But the election of President Donald Trump in 2016 and his reluctance to denounce them outright have given the groups a new sense of legitimacy.

On our podcast this week, we hear from Vegas Tenold, a Norwegian journalist who spent six years embedded with white supremacist groups in the United States—interviewing their members, attending their meetings and covering their rallies. His book about the experience, Everything You Love Will Burn: Inside the Rebirth of White Nationalism in America, was published in February.