Randy Blazak was a Professor of Sociology at Portland State University from 1995 to 2015. He earned his PhD from Emory University in 1995 by completing an extensive undercover study of Nazi skinheads. While he was in graduate school, he also worked in a record store, as a music writer, as a manager of a successful rock band, organized poetry readings in Atlanta and published the monthly poetry zine, The Shakey Table. Since moving to Portland, Oregon in 1995, Blazak has become a nationally known expert on hate groups and youth culture. He has published numerous articles, book chapters based on his research. His first book was published in 2001, Renegade Kids, Suburban Outlaws (with Wayne S. Wooden, Wadsworth Publishing) and his second book, Hate Offenders (Praeger Publishing), was published in 2009. He regularly appears on local and national television programs, including Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor (which he refers to as his "4 minutes of shame.") He has also published short stories and two novels.