Men Among the Ruins: Post-War Reflections of a Radical Traditionalist Paperback – January 1, 2002

Because it is. This book will open your mind or crush it. It's tears back the shrouded veils of modernity and show you the stink you've been smelling all your life but couldn't identify.

Don't read if your feelings are prone to being hurt or you require trigger warnings. There are no 'safe spaces' here.

_Men Among the Ruins_ is the post World War II political reflections of the Italian intellectual Julius Evola. Continuing along the same lines as he had in his more famous _Revolt Against the Modern World_, Evola advocates a return to Tradition and radical counter-revolution. This translation is divided into three parts: an excellent introduction to the life and thought of Julius Evola, the text of _Men Among the Ruins_ proper, and Julius Evola's defense when brought in front of a court for charges of subversive activity.
_Men Among the Ruins_ has been called a "dangerous book" and Evola has been called a fascist; however, if we are unable to read these "dangerous books" and decide for ourselves what they have to say then we will never be able to learn anything from outside of the dull conformist mainstream. The introduction to this book explains much of Evola's thought and life, while at the same time explaining the particularly tricky issues of his involvement with fascism, his lectures in Germany, his racist theories (unlike the crass biological racism of certain components of the National Socialist regime, Evola advocates a spiritual notion of race), and his relationship with antiSemitism (including mention of the notorious forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion").
_Men Among the Ruins_ advocates a return to Tradition and a rejection of modern day liberalism, Bolshevism, individualism, collectivism, and the ideals of the revolution. Against this, Evola proposes a return to an underlying Indo-European substratum, authority, and a re-recognition of the necessity for transcendence. The book includes discussions of various aspects of the State, hierarchy, work and the economy, the Roman Imperium, corporativism (which Evola will somewhat reject along with socialism), militarism, and the role of war. Evola also tackles the issues of the "occult war" (including many of the rumors about the Jews - Evola rejects the more virulent forms of antiSemitism), the "problem of births", and Roman Catholicism as a component of that Tradition. I disagree somewhat with Evola's rejection of Catholicism, although it is unclear to me how much of this aspect of the Tradition is retainable (this would include recognition of the changes in the Church post-Vatican II, as well as the need to address the problem Evola brings up of the world's other religious traditions within the framework of Catholicism). Evola concludes with a discussion of the united Europe and a call for a new European Order. Evola writes specifically about the kind of men that are needed to compose this new Order, including old European families and military leaders. He concludes, "It remains to be seen which and how many men, in spite of it all, still stand upright among so many ruins, in order that they may make this task their own." The book concludes with Evola's defense before the Italian court and his rejection of his specific "glorification of Fascism" charge. This defense is one of the best clarifications of Evola's personal idiosyncratic thought that I have encountered.
In order to read this work, it is probably necessary to first complete Evola's more famous _Revolt Against the Modern World_. Most of Evola's other works that have been translated have a more esoteric bent to them and are less outrightly political. In the end however, Evola advocates a form of apoleteia, a phenomenon he will refer to as "riding the tiger", and a rejection of all party politics. In fact, Evola never participated in outright politics nor ever voted in his entire life. The book goes beyond the familiar schema of Right and Left political thinking and is certainly not to be recommended to any person completely absorbed in either mainstream or modernist ideologies and modes of thinking.

For the new reader of Evola, try "Revolt Against the Modern World" instead of "Men Among the Ruins." "Ruins" concerns Evola's own application of his philosophical perspective to post-war "current events" rates a weak second to his first-rate theoretical works.

Evolan "initiates" will find this work worthwhile, however, in deepening appreciation for the world-view of the Baron.

Well edited and nicely bound, as most works edited by Joscelyn Godwin and published by Inner Traditions.

March 2, 2005

I expected something more controversial or thought provoking, but it's very kosher, almost bland. Basically, baron Evola was a pre-1789 Sicilian traditionalist and aristocrat who naturally resented the two hundred and fifty years of our present day industrial/mercantile/militaristic/demo-pornocratic "multicultural" disaster.

An old anti-democrat like Nietzsche, in comparison,

has more staying power than Evola's mildly politically incorrect

class musings. Maybe, it's just this book (haven't read Evola's other work yet).

Take into consideration that over 1/3 of this edition includes an intro essay -the mandatory PC agitprop professer or another, pontificating von oben upon the possible

dangers of Evola's ways of free-thinking! Yawn. The usual US academical fear of truth and reality, especially when touching the controversian, taboo topics -the exploding problem of Race relations (esp. in North America) and of the Zionist Jewish world suprematism.

If you think New Orleans riots are not part of the global Zimbabwe anarchy, Evola is not for you.

But, no worries. Count Evola is no David Irving. He doesn't bite! He's one of the good guys!

Evola is great!

A stunning revelation for the burgeoning or stalwart conservative