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icecurtain 's review for:
Them: Adventures with Extremists
by Jon Ronson
I did really enjoy this book. The author puts himself in ridiculous or dangerous situations many times over, usually with people who are antisemitic (the other is Jewish), so I have to give him kudos for that. He tells many tales of extremists making silly mistakes.
He also tells stories that seem to be... humanizing, trying to make the extremists sympathetic. And sometimes he admits to discomfort with the level of tacit aid he renders while he is just there as a journalist.
It was a very entertaining listen. I only have two quibbles:
1) I feel that in his work, the author may have helped the cause of the extremists, and that he may be making them too sympathetic in this book.
2) I'm unclear on what the point is. What are we to take away from this? Is there some overall lesson? The ending of the book is surprisingly abrupt and seems like it may hint at some kind of lesson. I'm not exactly clear on what the lesson is, however. Maybe that the real extremists are those that jump to conclusions about extremists?
He also tells stories that seem to be... humanizing, trying to make the extremists sympathetic. And sometimes he admits to discomfort with the level of tacit aid he renders while he is just there as a journalist.
It was a very entertaining listen. I only have two quibbles:
1) I feel that in his work, the author may have helped the cause of the extremists, and that he may be making them too sympathetic in this book.
2) I'm unclear on what the point is. What are we to take away from this? Is there some overall lesson? The ending of the book is surprisingly abrupt and seems like it may hint at some kind of lesson. I'm not exactly clear on what the lesson is, however. Maybe that the real extremists are those that jump to conclusions about extremists?