A Fair Hearing: The Alt-Right in the Words of Its Members and Leaders Hardcover – May 8, 2018

Whatever your political persuasion, race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, if you sincerely want to thoroughly understand the Alt-Right, direct from the source, read this excellent concise yet comprehensive anthology! Even if you are an enemy of the Alt-Right you should read this book. A few hours spent reading this book will give you a better understanding than 100's or perhaps even 1,000's of hours spent on other books, podcasts, and video.

The many authors in this anthology represent the authentic core of the Alt-Right, the real deal. At best the mainstream media grossly - and usually maliciously - distorts their line of thought even when it actually covers the authentic people. Very often the media falsely identifies members of the "Alt-Lite", who are civic nationalists and cultural libertarians and generally shun and repress the actual Alt-Righters, as being Alt-Right. In fact, the true Alt-Right is ethno-racial nationalist and culturally traditionalist (specifically including traditionalism regarding gender roles and sexual orientation).

Love it or loathe it, that is the reality of the Alt-Right. Though currently tiny in resources and organization, it is a huge underlying, and usually unspoken, ideological force within modern politics. It is not going away any time soon and will continue to grow in importance, most likely replacing "Conservatism, Inc." to become the dominant stream of right-wing political thought in the coming years and decades.

Not sure what the Alt-Right was I checked Wikipedia. There, the Alt-Right was described as a loose grouping of white supremacists, white nationalists, white separatists, anti-Semitics, neo-Nazis, neo-fascists,, neo-confederates, Holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists, Christian fundamentalists, and other fringe hate groups guilty of xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-feminism, nativism, homophobia, and misogyny. Oh, according to Wikipedia, we can add the Trump 2016 campaign to this list.

The dear reader will find this compendium of short articles well documented, easily read, and generally level-headed. The theme that was present in all the writings was that the "browning" of America and other white nations does not portend a good future for the world. It seems the authors feel that whites have contributed much to culture and civilization and that as whites become minorities the new arrivals may not be able to maintain, much less add, to the advances of Western Civilization. Several references are made to the social emasculation of white males. They are ridiculed in television shows, television commercials, social media, and by academia. Their thoughts are totally discounted. Many live in fear of being called "racist" a term that can end careers and bring social ostracism. In fact not just white males but anyone who disagrees with the left's racial agenda is ridiculed. Just look at Wikipedia.

This is a fun, short book with essays from your favorite stars of the Alt Right. The essays vary in theme and topic and roughly serve to bring one up to date with where the political movement known as the "alt right" stands at this point in time. Even the definition of the term alt right is in a constant state of flux, and this book, taken as a whole, brings the final denotation of that term into perspective.

The book is propagandistic in nature, and does not seek to break new ground intellectually, but even so, the forceful restatement of ideas would seem to synthesize into a work greater than the sum of its parts. Essays from old hands such as Jared Taylor and Kevin Macdonald repeat their prior arguments in abbreviated form, while the younger pundits like Richard Spencer and Jared Howe present current ideas tailored to the times. Spencer contributes an entertaining essay on football, and how it has evolved into an anti white propaganda machine that is best boycotted. He discusses the Kapernick affair and kneeling during the national anthem. I needed no persuasion on this point, but the essay is informative and nuanced. Jared Howe contributes a fascinating essay, perhaps the best in the book for me, on the migration of thinkers to alt right who were formerly involved in the libertarian movement. There has been a lot of discussion on this topic, and the truth is as I had hypothesized, but even more direct than I had imagined. Essentially, there was a buckley style purge of libertarians who discussed the topic of closed borders by the usual suspects. The book has many other highly entertaining essays by such fine writers as Gregory Hood, and also some writers new to me such as Ethan Edwards.

One of the most entertaining features was Shaw's "alt right lexicon" wherein he gives fun definitions of various terms in the alt right parlance; cuckservative, red, white, black pilled, thot, etc. I wish for an extended lexicon in this vein, that might include biographies of key figures and a bit of the history of far right movements. I have noted that many of these terms, if in fact they were coined by alt right people, have seeped into the mainstream quite a bit. I hear many of my friend saying "cuck" and the various pill terms. I think this points to the vitality of this movement, that its parlance has penetrated into the youth culture. This is a hotbed of ideas.

One of the weaker essays was that by Ryan Fauck. He seems to be getting himself derailed too much by the extremer thought of Cochrane and Harpending(cf. the 10000 year explosion below). He seems to believe that Europeans of the middle ages were almost an entirely different species from modern Europeans. I seriously doubt this would be the case. Sure, Vikings may have been statistically much more violent than modern men, but much of that violence was directed outward against other tribes. They were in a savage state of nature. If one were to stroll through a Norwegian village circa 900 AD, however, I doubt one would be set upon and raped and mugged as in many major metropolises of the modern USA! Compare with our level of killing in the middle east, and I wager the Vikings might come out favorably. In antiquity, Roman and Mediterranean civilization was at a high level and rather peaceful on a quotidian basis. At one point Fauck cites a character from a video game as evidence. Link is an elf, a fantasy creature, not a Nordic man. I think Fauck should achieve a higher degree in a hard science, and then rethink his positions. There are some really good online programs in engineering.

Also, the essay by the Golden One was a bit wishy washy. Although I like the spirit of his essay, I tend not to be puritanical and rather think pornography is an Ok outlet for males, particularly as it can help prevent one from making certain life mistakes. Rather than working on "game" I think guys should focus on physical fitness and building marketable skills and money. Then worthy females will flock to them. His strategy seems to be more along the lines of Heartiste, who aims at one night stands with super models, rather than family building.

There are several essays from female authors, a demographic under represented among alt right authors. In fact one essay actually addresses this issue in an honest, analytical fashion. This represents a step in the right direction. Another important direction for alt right thinkers might be that of ecology. Environmentalism is seen as a bastion of the left, but actually historically the anti immigration position has been aligned with the green movement. Cf. the Sierra Club up until the 1980s. I think marrying alt right thought to ecology might open a new pipeline from the Green Party once they recognize the truth and logic of this connection. The website Counter Currents has made some baby steps in this direction.

All and all, this was a very fun and informative book. I recommend it to anyone who is curious about this new movement, variously termed alt right, white nationalism, paleoconservatism, or the dissident right. As a warning to the uninitiated, many of the essays contain language and ideas that could be highly offensive to certain groups. I myself do not necessarily agree with and embrace all the notions presented herein, but I do believe they merit a "fair hearing."

Recommended reading for anyone who wants to learn about the real alt-right.

A fine & balanced collection of this growing contemporary movement.

Every book discussing the Alt-Right has obsessed over "white anxiety", "white fragility", frog memes, and "hate". This book is the only one published thus far which avoids slander, hysteria, or sensationalization. It may be the most significant publication of this decade, it is a testament to the courage of the author George T. Shaw, and it demonstrates American free speech - true free speech - insofar as it still exists.