A review by redbecca
Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right by Jack Graham, Elizabeth Sandifer

3.0

This book is an interesting document from a larger internet nerd fight. I don't recommend it as a clear explanation of the alt-right. it does provide a detailed close-reading of three major neo-reactionary figures, and a smack-down of racist paleo-libertarians, with connections to longer intellectual traditions. However, the writing style, a kind of ongoing performance of intellectual pwnage, makes the book harder to read than it needs to be. At times, the readings seem more aimed at ridiculing the book's subjects than explaining their ideas or why anyone would believe them. This can be satisfying on one level, which may be why the chapter on Trump works - because we are inundated with information about him all the time and don't need a basic explanation of who he is or what he's about. In the end, for me the snarky style became tedious and undermined the book's stated purpose.