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12 reviews for:
Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse
Shane Burley
4.24 AVERAGE
12 reviews for:
Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse
Shane Burley
4.24 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This was an interesting look at the history, development, and ideology of the alt right. It felt oddly dated; part of that is on me for reading it 4 years after it came out, but I think it would have felt dated in 2021. He talked a lot about the activities of the alt right up through 2018. He said that the alt right fell out of favor around that time, but I was left questioning what their lasting impact was and what happened to all the people involved. Did they migrate to other movements? Are they still around in some form? What are all the online edgelords doing now? The book was published in 2021, so there are 3 years basically unaccounted for. It was interesting history, but I don't think he did a great job of demonstrating how most of this continued to be relevant around the time of publication. The alt right fell apart as a movement before this was published, but it still felt like a significant chunk of this book was about countering the alt right. I think he could have done more to explicitly show how lessons learned from countering the alt right could be applied to the 2021 iteration of US fascism.
Even though it didn't all feel currently relevant, it was still interesting to hear about how the alt right developed. It was interesting to hear how they tried and failed to connect with less extreme conservatives, and I was also interested in the discussion of the intellectual underpinnings of the alt right. There were entire publishing houses dedicated to providing a pseudointellectual foundation for their white nationalism.
I think my two favorite essays were "The Continuing Appeal of Antisemitism" and "Chase the Black Sun." The antisemitism essay talked about how people have the inclination to pick a specific scapegoat to blame for everything wrong with society because structural analysis isn't as emotionally cathartic, and Jewish people often fill that role. He also talked about how antisemitism can show up in leftist spaces. Jewish people aren't believed about their oppression, antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories end up getting platformed, and antisemitic groups end up in coalitions. He talked about how criticizing Israel isn't antisemitic, but there can be antisemitism in pro-Palestine spaces.
"Chase the Black Sun" was about men's groups and how patriarchal socialization of men often leaves men trying to fill an emotional void. A lot of right-wing men's groups fill the void with misogyny, toxic masculinity, and white nationalism. He talked about how men can create supportive communities to overcome toxic masculinity and build something better. He quoted The Will to Change by bell hooks, and that just reinforced my desire to read it.
Even though it didn't all feel currently relevant, it was still interesting to hear about how the alt right developed. It was interesting to hear how they tried and failed to connect with less extreme conservatives, and I was also interested in the discussion of the intellectual underpinnings of the alt right. There were entire publishing houses dedicated to providing a pseudointellectual foundation for their white nationalism.
I think my two favorite essays were "The Continuing Appeal of Antisemitism" and "Chase the Black Sun." The antisemitism essay talked about how people have the inclination to pick a specific scapegoat to blame for everything wrong with society because structural analysis isn't as emotionally cathartic, and Jewish people often fill that role. He also talked about how antisemitism can show up in leftist spaces. Jewish people aren't believed about their oppression, antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories end up getting platformed, and antisemitic groups end up in coalitions. He talked about how criticizing Israel isn't antisemitic, but there can be antisemitism in pro-Palestine spaces.
"Chase the Black Sun" was about men's groups and how patriarchal socialization of men often leaves men trying to fill an emotional void. A lot of right-wing men's groups fill the void with misogyny, toxic masculinity, and white nationalism. He talked about how men can create supportive communities to overcome toxic masculinity and build something better. He quoted The Will to Change by bell hooks, and that just reinforced my desire to read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
very interesting stuff, although the themes could be a bit hard to follow. definitely gotta read more AK press
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.5 rounded down. The book was well researched and you can really tell Burley has spent years on the topic in both a personal and an academic sense. He raised a lot of points I hadn’t really considered when looking at the way fascism operates in the modern context like it’s incorporation of pagan ideologies like heathenism and folkish identity. He really broadened the context of my understanding of white supremacy in the United States.
My main concerns with the book was the essays tended to wander quite a bit which often made it hard to focus on them. (Although reading this at staff training may not have been super conducive for paying attention anyway). The subcategories of the essays often seemed only tangentially related to the work’s title and overall it just seems like things could have been organized in a much more succinct manner that would’ve made for a more compelling piece.
However the main take aways of Burley are pretty clear. Fascism is here and is ingrained in many aspects of our culture - and the main force keeping this fascism at bay is the direct counter organizing by anti fascists and anti racists. Everyone get involved in a local mutual aid group.
My main concerns with the book was the essays tended to wander quite a bit which often made it hard to focus on them. (Although reading this at staff training may not have been super conducive for paying attention anyway). The subcategories of the essays often seemed only tangentially related to the work’s title and overall it just seems like things could have been organized in a much more succinct manner that would’ve made for a more compelling piece.
However the main take aways of Burley are pretty clear. Fascism is here and is ingrained in many aspects of our culture - and the main force keeping this fascism at bay is the direct counter organizing by anti fascists and anti racists. Everyone get involved in a local mutual aid group.
I was gonna give this book a worse rating, but the last two essays were much better than the rest of the book. I sort of struggled to finish this because it's 300 pages of repetitive essays that were already dated by the time it was published. I really liked Burley's "Fascism Today" so I was expecting to enjoy this one as well. First off, the title is a little misleading, as "Why We Fight" led me to believe that some focus would be given to what we are fighting for in the anti-fascist struggle. A more appropriate title would be "What We Fight," as it appears this book is a collection of essays that never got picked up by publishing mediums, highlighting various strains of the alt-right and far-right. Richard Spencer is a hot topic throughout this book, wild because he has pretty much floated into irrelevance by the time this was published. The events of Charlottesville 2017 are rehashed more than once, an event many of Burley's readers are familiar with and benefit greatly from not having to re-read play-by-plays. The majority of this book could have used an editor to check for repetition and grammar to say the least.
There were three essays I was excited about reading when I got this book though, and two of them held up. In the essay "Contested Space," Burley writes about cultural/counter-cultural anti-fascist organizing, and excels when he discusses the neofolk scene and anti-fascist/radical currents within. However, he also talks about organizing within soccer and skinhead music scenes, and his apparent absence from either of those cultural spaces is blatantly clear as he gets facts and sequences wrong, leading to a lackluster analysis of their importance. This kind of presented an overall critique I have of Burley's work, that in this book he is attempting to walk in two worlds: radical anti-fascist researcher, and textbook/academic journalist. In the middle is where things fall apart, as he fails to commit fully to either one. As a textbook/academic journalist, he lacks presence and full immersion/participation in the street-level organizing he writes about. As an attempt to write a book "by/for activists" much of his writings misses the clarity and smooth process that comes from reading academic texts. Many of the essays start with strange personal stories that don't allude to where they're going or how they're related to what he's going to be analyzing at all.
Nonetheless, the last two essays were very good, although at times meandering. They are on antisemitism and the Wolves of Vinland, two topics Burley has studied a lot of and immersed himself in. It would be helpful to anti-fascist of all kinds if these last two essays were available outside of this book.
There were three essays I was excited about reading when I got this book though, and two of them held up. In the essay "Contested Space," Burley writes about cultural/counter-cultural anti-fascist organizing, and excels when he discusses the neofolk scene and anti-fascist/radical currents within. However, he also talks about organizing within soccer and skinhead music scenes, and his apparent absence from either of those cultural spaces is blatantly clear as he gets facts and sequences wrong, leading to a lackluster analysis of their importance. This kind of presented an overall critique I have of Burley's work, that in this book he is attempting to walk in two worlds: radical anti-fascist researcher, and textbook/academic journalist. In the middle is where things fall apart, as he fails to commit fully to either one. As a textbook/academic journalist, he lacks presence and full immersion/participation in the street-level organizing he writes about. As an attempt to write a book "by/for activists" much of his writings misses the clarity and smooth process that comes from reading academic texts. Many of the essays start with strange personal stories that don't allude to where they're going or how they're related to what he's going to be analyzing at all.
Nonetheless, the last two essays were very good, although at times meandering. They are on antisemitism and the Wolves of Vinland, two topics Burley has studied a lot of and immersed himself in. It would be helpful to anti-fascist of all kinds if these last two essays were available outside of this book.
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.
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!
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced