# Christian Picciolini

Christian Marco Picciolini (born November 3, 1973) is an American author, public speaker, former neo-Nazi punk rock musician, and founder of the Free Radicals Project, a global network of people who are working to prevent extremism and helping people disengage from hate movements and other violent ideologies. He is the author of a memoir, Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead, which details his time as a leader of the white power movement in the U.S. An updated version of the story was published in 2017, titled White American Youth: My Descent into America's Most Violent Hate Movement--and How I Got Out. His next book, Breaking Hate: Confronting the New Culture of Extremism, was released on February 25, 2020, and provides an inside look at how extremists recruit the vulnerable to their causes, details Picciolini's disengagement process, and serves as a guide for how anyone can help intervene.