T.J. LeydenSkinhead Confessions: From Hate To Hope

I was a friend of TJ Leyden. He was a very fine human being with an important message. His story helps people to understand how hate groups recruit and manipulate people. The fact that he realized the truth placed him at risk. Many times we would be speaking at the same venues and TJ would require special protection due to bounty put on his head by hate groups. His message of peace and love is much needed today. His books are very important to anyone who truly wants to learn and understand how and why such groups occur and persist in a world where it should not be.

Full disclosure - I am friends with the co-author, Bridget Cook, however, I really loved this book no matter who wrote it. It opened my eyes to a few things:1. That even someone who thinks they are "dead" when it comes to emotion can still be reached.2. That evil spreads and is in disguise and to watch for signs with my kids that I never thought about.3. That these transformational stories need to continue to be told to inspire people who are trapped and thinking about escape.Thank you, TJ and Bridget, for being willing to tell this story.

Love it. Helpful in learning that many similar people r from generations of hate but reachable through loving God.

Where to begin? Just strap in and read the true struggles of a man with his inner demons. Its simply amazing how much the write goes through sand still prevails. You think you know someone till they forget their towel and you learn a whole lot more.

This book was an interesting but it feels like TJ spends a lot of feeding his ego. His message is definitely important, but I feel like it gets a little lost in him repeatedly stating how tough/important/powerful/influential/brilliant he is. There are a lot of parts of his story that he seems to gloss over. It does not seem to go very deep into his emotions or his thought process, he spends a lot of time conveying how he is the best at everything he does. The best recruiter, the best fighter, the best public speaker. It's hard to feel any sympathy or empathy for him.Regardless, its a good read. His story is interesting, if he was as deeply imbedded into the racist ideology as he claims to have been and made such a radical change, then good for him as it could not have been easy. The book is fairly easy read, it delves into what is unfortunately what most people perceive skinheads to be. Its unfortunate that all skins get lumped into the same category as the white supremacist/separatist skins. There are others out there.

This was a great book. A little disturbing subject may turn some people off but amazing how he transformed. A good deal as well.

Bought the book after being at a law enforcement confrence.The book hit all the right spots that TJ didnt have time to go intoWould highly recommend this to anyone who works in law enforcementReally spots lights the SkinheadsEveryone around work that has read it really enjoyed and learned a lot from TJ's experience

For those interested in gang life or the white power movment, this book is an eye-opener for the skinhead world, and it goes to show how its something that should not be taken lightly.

as a longtime skinhead i found this read a deep and thoughtful piece of literature ,all skinheads should read this at least once in there life!

heard it all before

So far, I really enjoy reading this book. It seems like it is going to be good. It is easy to get into.