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11corvus11's review
5.0
Shane Burley's new collection, Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse brings quite a lot to the table. I had always known that there was likely much diversity between far right movements just as there is on the left. Nonetheless, I still always assumed the right to be far more united than we are. Like most people, I receive constant messages that the other side is a monolithic enemy. Burley's collection makes it clear they are indeed the enemies, but it taught me so much about the variations and diversity among fascist and other far right groups. This attention to the diversity of tactics and goals of far right, white supremacist, and/or fascist groups is critical in knowing how to resist them. This is not just a manifesto of sorts. Burley is a journalist and a good one at that. He provides copious footnotes and citations for his claims adding even more to the book's credit.
In his introduction to the book, Burley admits that he had made incorrect predictions about the (lack of) future threat of fascism in the past. He has since come to learn over time that the threat is all too real. In this collection, he examines various far right groups, histories, tactics, belief systems, and popularity. He includes a lot of information about key players, past and present, as well as fair analyses of their strengths and weaknesses. Groups and individuals covered include the alt right, alt light, kekistan, turning point, Richard Spencer, Andy Ngo, Jason Kessler, Atomwaffen, Incels, and many others. These essays show a fascinating amount of diversity among far right groups and their many detestable ideologies. It turns out, contrary to my thinking, they are not as united as I assumed. It feels odd to call this information "fascinating" when it is so horrific. But, I found myself completely immersed and intrigued by these glimpses into worlds that were not my own- often times using information gathered from infiltration online or other forms of cover skillfully executed by Burley
Another thing that this book does quite well is that Burley manages to expose these far right individuals and groups and their abhorrent belief systems without platforming those beliefs. This can be difficult to do. Many more centrist journalists believe that we should allow Nazis plenty of air time to let us know what they believe, but this almost always backfires- especially with those who are skilled in word play and charisma. Burley details these groups and histories without giving them that sort of platform. This makes the book a good know-thy-enemy sort of resource as well as a resource that can be shared with someone who may not have their mind up or who simply lacked the information to know better.
My favorite essay in the entire book is "Contested Spaces." Much of my musical interest and focus since my early teens has been with industrial music and other dark and related genres. I can speak from experience that industrial has a very long far leftist political history, but has also attracted its share of fascists, misogynists, racists, and others. "Contested Spaces," begins as an examination of fascist forms of neofolk, then expands to highlight the anti-fascist neofolk artists who are reclaiming the genre. The essay continues to examine many other counterculture spaces in which a war between ideologies is waged. It is fascinating, well researched, and most of all offers a realistic depiction of the messy conflicted nature of the topic, rather than giving a watered down black and white description.
All in all, I learned a ton from this book. I left it feeling as if I had graduated to an entirely new understanding of the topics and groups discussed therein. I definitely recommend this book for pretty much anyone, but especially for those center-to-left who desire a better understanding of the wide variety of people we are fighting against and why.
This was also posted to my blog.
In his introduction to the book, Burley admits that he had made incorrect predictions about the (lack of) future threat of fascism in the past. He has since come to learn over time that the threat is all too real. In this collection, he examines various far right groups, histories, tactics, belief systems, and popularity. He includes a lot of information about key players, past and present, as well as fair analyses of their strengths and weaknesses. Groups and individuals covered include the alt right, alt light, kekistan, turning point, Richard Spencer, Andy Ngo, Jason Kessler, Atomwaffen, Incels, and many others. These essays show a fascinating amount of diversity among far right groups and their many detestable ideologies. It turns out, contrary to my thinking, they are not as united as I assumed. It feels odd to call this information "fascinating" when it is so horrific. But, I found myself completely immersed and intrigued by these glimpses into worlds that were not my own- often times using information gathered from infiltration online or other forms of cover skillfully executed by Burley
Another thing that this book does quite well is that Burley manages to expose these far right individuals and groups and their abhorrent belief systems without platforming those beliefs. This can be difficult to do. Many more centrist journalists believe that we should allow Nazis plenty of air time to let us know what they believe, but this almost always backfires- especially with those who are skilled in word play and charisma. Burley details these groups and histories without giving them that sort of platform. This makes the book a good know-thy-enemy sort of resource as well as a resource that can be shared with someone who may not have their mind up or who simply lacked the information to know better.
My favorite essay in the entire book is "Contested Spaces." Much of my musical interest and focus since my early teens has been with industrial music and other dark and related genres. I can speak from experience that industrial has a very long far leftist political history, but has also attracted its share of fascists, misogynists, racists, and others. "Contested Spaces," begins as an examination of fascist forms of neofolk, then expands to highlight the anti-fascist neofolk artists who are reclaiming the genre. The essay continues to examine many other counterculture spaces in which a war between ideologies is waged. It is fascinating, well researched, and most of all offers a realistic depiction of the messy conflicted nature of the topic, rather than giving a watered down black and white description.
All in all, I learned a ton from this book. I left it feeling as if I had graduated to an entirely new understanding of the topics and groups discussed therein. I definitely recommend this book for pretty much anyone, but especially for those center-to-left who desire a better understanding of the wide variety of people we are fighting against and why.
This was also posted to my blog.
cebolla's review
5.0
This book is great, here's why:
1. Shane Burley has been studying and writing about fascism for a little while now and he's amassed quite a well of knowledge. It's important, if we take the threat of white supremacy seriously (which we should), to know who our enemy is and try to figure out why they think like they do. Without this, there is no way to counter what they are doing. After finishing Why We Fight, I feel like I have a lot more knowledge than before.
2. Many intellectual writers tend to get wordy or annoyingly dense when trying to get their point across; other writers treat the reader like their an idiot. Burley write in a clear, concise way that allows him to get across a ton of digestible information in a minimal number of pages.
Read this book, read everything by Shane Burley, read every that AK Press has been coming out with!
1. Shane Burley has been studying and writing about fascism for a little while now and he's amassed quite a well of knowledge. It's important, if we take the threat of white supremacy seriously (which we should), to know who our enemy is and try to figure out why they think like they do. Without this, there is no way to counter what they are doing. After finishing Why We Fight, I feel like I have a lot more knowledge than before.
2. Many intellectual writers tend to get wordy or annoyingly dense when trying to get their point across; other writers treat the reader like their an idiot. Burley write in a clear, concise way that allows him to get across a ton of digestible information in a minimal number of pages.
Read this book, read everything by Shane Burley, read every that AK Press has been coming out with!
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