Reviews tagging 'Death'

Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy by Talia Lavin

8 reviews

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

There was a lot I really liked about this book. The scary look into far-right infiltrative journalism really put me on edge. Lavin is incredibly brave and principled. However, much of this book read like a collection of well-written journal articles. The overall story lacked cohesiveness. I enjoyed each section independently ("We Keep Us Safe" was a standout), but don't go into this expecting a deep dive into the path of online radicalism. It's good as a more intro-level text of vignettes. Lavin's writing is strong, personal, and emotional, though I found it repetitive (and I spent a fair amount of time looking up words). 3.5 stars.

"To those who find themselves uncomfortable with the operation of antifascists outside the comfortable bounds of institutions and, at times, the law, I remind you that the French partisans of World War II were acting illegally, while the Einsatzgruppen had the full support of German law. We tend to like our noble lawbreakers to be comfortably in the past, where time and death have sanitized them into heroes, and to suffer those who struggle against injustice in the present only grudgingly, if at all."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Police brutality, Cursing, Ableism, Body horror, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Sexism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Misogyny, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Death, Suicide, Stalking, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Self harm, Slavery, Hate crime, War, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child death and Pandemic/Epidemic

jonezzzing's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Hate crime, Antisemitism, and Violence

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

3.75

 - I think it is important, when you can manage it, to look at horrible things straight on so you know what you're up against. That said, CULTURE WARLORDS is filled with some of the most horrifying and horrific things I've ever read, all the more terrifying because it's all happening right under our noses.
- I think if you've spent any time at all learning about (or experiencing) what the far right is up to, there isn't a lot of new information in this book. However, Lavin really does a great job of linking seemingly disparate ideologies, events, and social and governmental failures together to show how we arrived here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Police brutality, Murder, Suicide, Transphobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Racism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Animal death, Death, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, War, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Stalking

collins1129's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Stalking, Violence, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Colonisation, Gore, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

internationalreads's review against another edition

dark funny informative medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body shaming, Car accident, Death, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Xenophobia

readalongwithnat's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

thechiaraface's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.75

 I think this book started out strong and provides a lot of interesting (and oftentimes also horrifying) information. This book made me so mad at times (some notes to myself on particular passages in this book include: 'I think I just threw up in my mouth' and 'are you F*ING kidding me?!'), so I only listened to a chapter a day. It really explores how hate groups morph and thrive online. I think this book is informative, insightful, and thought-provoking, however it's not a perfect book. The last couple chapters just did not hold up compared to the rest, it was less journalistic and instead seemed to try and convince us all to take action/get involved, but didn't provide any actionable steps so it fell flat in my opinion. It also had some moments where it felt a bit repetitive and imperfectly organized, but overall I found it very informative on the nitty-gritty details of how these groups function and the people involved. Also, I think her emphasis that these people (white supremacists, white nationalists, anti-semites, etc.) are everywhere and are not necessarily who you expect, is an important point. I think one of the biggest things I took away, and if you read it I hope you take away from it also, is that white nationalism and other online hate groups did not start with Trump, they were here long before (and fun fact, were some of the earliest internet users – a  KKK chapter was one of the early adopters to have a website back in the 1980s) and didn't suddenly disappear. I recommend this book – with the caveat that this has major hate-speech trigger warnings, there is truly heinous language (including graphic threats, including jokes & threats of rape and murder against the author she saw in chatrooms) included as part of this book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Rape

amarchetta's review

challenging informative reflective

3.0

I’m glad I read this book because it reflected the grueling work the author did in her research. It was difficult to get through due to the weight of the material present. I hate to give this a lower star rating because of the incredible insights the author could provide, but I didn’t find the flow/format of the book very readable. I can’t say anyone would enjoy reading the vicious hate spewed by the book’s subjects, but the work itself wasn’t as engrossing as I had hoped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia