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Becoming a Barbarian Paperback – March 15, 2016
| Jack Donovan (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Becoming a Barbarian is a follow-up to Donovan's cult hit, The Way of Men. Good, modern, "civilized" Western men today are expected to think like "citizens of the world" - obligated to everyone and no one. Natural, meaningful tribal connections have been substituted with synthetic, disposable consumer identities. Without a sense of who they are and what group they have a place in, modern men are becoming increasingly detached, disoriented, vulnerable, and ever more easily manipulated.
Becoming a Barbarian attacks the emasculated emptiness of life in the modern West - "The Empire of Nothing" -and shows men how to think tribally again. It reveals the weaknesses of universalistic thinking, and challenges readers to become the kind of men who could go "all-in" and devote their lives to one group of people above all others.
Becoming a Barbarian is about finding a tribe, finding a purpose, and choosing to live the kind of life that undermines the narrative of the Empire.
- Print length164 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDissonant Hum
- Publication dateMarch 15, 2016
- Dimensions5.2 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
- ISBN-100985452358
- ISBN-13978-0985452353
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Product details
- Publisher : Dissonant Hum; Illustrated edition (March 15, 2016)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 164 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0985452358
- ISBN-13 : 978-0985452353
- Item Weight : 6.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.2 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #29,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #32 in Men's Gender Studies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Jack Donovan (1974-) is an American known for his writing on masculinity.
Follow Jack on Instagram @starttheworld.
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That said, I wasn't quite as big a fan of this book as I was of The Way of Men.
I loved reading about the Empire of Nothing. I found it to be a perfect illustration of what we've become: complacent, slothful, and comfortable to a disgusting degree, a gaggle of marshmallow drones measuring each others' worth in gold and purchased trinkets rather than deeds. If we can be bothered to do any measuring in between stuffing our faces and staring at our idiot boxes, that is.
Donovan purports that the only way out of the Empire's Matrix is to reject the rules said empire has laid out for us, primarily the social customs and standards that seek to control men, and which make "good man" and "good dog" into synonymous phrases. I'm fine with that to a point, but then he talks about taking care of your own and telling the rest of the world to screw off (again, not a bad thing in itself), to the point of advocating the leeching of tax dollars in order to benefit your own people. He actually says several times that a barbarian must be willing to take care of his own even at the expense of all others, even if it means attacking and stealing from other "tribes" should the needs of your own tribe be dire enough (or even if you just want to). That, by the way, is where I draw the line.
I do see plenty of merit in the idea of a tribe as Donovan outlines; the idea of being accountable to a small group of people certainly seems far more feasible and practical than attempting to be accountable to the whole world. I can't get on board with the idea of causing harm to strangers because the spoils would benefit my tribe, though. That sounds frighteningly analogous to the types of roving bandits you see raping and plundering the helpless in post-apocalyptic fiction (the book even has a chapter about looting and plundering). Because of that, I am certain that I could never be a member of Jack's tribe.
That's fine, though, because that's the whole point of the book: Jack does not give a single, solitary crap about any negative opinions I have of him or the Wolves of Vinland. I am not his brother, as he is not mine, and were we to meet in person, I have no doubt we would be able to have a civil discussion and even a few laughs, but we would probably have irreconcilable differences that would prevent us from ever reaching the point of brotherhood. In a survival scenario, he and his tribe would kill my tribe and me if we had food and they didn't.
Ultimately, you have to decide what you will take and what you will leave from this one. As for me, I agree with about 80% of what Jack said, and as I mentioned, I still respect him and would pounce on an opportunity to meet him.
If you decide to go out and club a random dude over the head with a bat because a short book vaguely alluded to the idea of doing so, that's your prerogative.
I was surprised about how big of a role consumerism plays in the attempts to stifle individualism and free thought. Also surprising was the not-so-obvious-obvious dangers of Universal morality, and I can attest to them; by the time you’re finished fighting for the world, you barely have anything left for yourself.
Again, a must read, front of the line type of book. It’s an easy read that questions, ‘is the allegiance you’ve pledged, really in YOUR best interest…?’ And that’s a question you cannot un-ask yourself (rabbit-holing as we speak 🐇 🕳). Good work Jack, definitely will be reading more of your books and essays. Loved the “I Don’t Care” essay as well. We don’t realize how we’re subtly acquiesced into continuous one-sided caring. But I’ll save that for another post.🐺
Top reviews from other countries
The core is the notion of Us vs Them and how to create a meaningful and strong group and sense of who the We is. The book goes quite a way down the path into doing this, but I'm sure that there will be may readers who are either feeling to isolated to form their own Mannerbund or who were expecting a more prescriptive look.
The book also branches more into an Alt-Right worldview and Germanic pagan practices, both of which are interesting topics. However, they are both also topics that I have read similar things about elsewhere. The book is in general somewhat less original than Donovan's other works - although I think this may be a case of the people he inspired, and is inspired by, simply publishing related works.
In summary, it's a very good short book. It doesn't quite meet the very high expectations resulting from the viral success of "Way of Men" but I'm happy to have bought and read it and I'll read it again in a few months.
One minor point: The publisher was somewhat negligent in their responsibility to proof read the book prior publishing. It contains a number of grammatical errors and sentences that don't make sense. There is no excuse for this - it should be the easy part of producing a book.
This is also a great read which is very thought provoking and can make you feel uncomfortable about how we as men live in the empire of nothing.
Men today have been brought up with lot of lies. This book explores all the aspects and show how we should deal with life.
Now... onto the 3rd. "A more complete beast"
Other than its brevity, I cannot fault this book in any way. In his previous work "The Way of Men", Donovan established his writing style as being punchy, incendiary, and highly quotable. In this book he has refined that style to the point where each paragraph can almost stand alone as a succinct thought in which no words are wasted. The authors style of communication is one which I find admirable and highly enjoyable to read, as it stands very clearly apart from the work of other authors who drawl on and pack out their pages with unnecessary filling words. Donovans work, on the other hand, is Spartan in the sense that it is both Laconic and bloody.
Typing the authors name into any search engine will very quickly reveal that Donovans personal life is a very authentic representation of the philosophies that he espouses in his work. Thinkers and writers in this genre (if such a genre could be said to have existed prior to Donovan) often tend to be nothing more than thinkers and writers who rarely practice what they preach. But Donovans adherence to the code that he promotes is well documented on Facebook, Instagram, and his personal website. Although some readers will not gain any extra appreciation of his work by knowing that he does indeed practice what he preaches, I personally find it to be an important point when we approach the work of writers such as these.
To conclude, Becoming a Barbarian is an important work for anyone with an interest in such topics as Tribalism, Masculinity, Social Psychology, and even Heathenry (though this topic is used mainly as an illustration for the other points that Donovan discusses). Although I would have preferred if it were longer than its 160 pages, I cannot overly fault the author when his Laconic brevity is one of the main attractions to his work.
I enjoy Donovan's writing style, he make great use of imagery and metaphor to make his point, he's a engaging story teller and his use of Germanic mythology to frame some of the key ideas here was particularly effective. Some of his ideas might be considered controversial, but they're always relevant and eloquently illustrated. Overall you have an excellently written, empowering and inspirational follow up to The Way Of Men.









