 | |
| Author | Talia Lavin |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | White supremacy |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Published | 2020,Hachette Books |
| Media type | Print, e-book, audiobook |
| Pages | 288 pages |
| ISBN | 978-0-30684-643-4 |
| Website | hachettebooks.com/titles/talia-lavin/culture-warlords/9780306846434/ |
Culture Warlords: My Journey into the Dark Web of White Supremacy is a non-fiction book byTalia Lavin.[1][2] In the book, Lavin describes a project of inventing online personae that allow her to meet and exposefascist whitesupremacists who gather in online chatrooms and websites; the book also traces the historic roots of these contemporary phenomena.
Time namedCulture Warlords one of the 100 must-read books of 2020.
Lavin, who isJewish and the grandchild ofHolocaust survivors,[3] became motivated to investigate the topic followingwhite supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, where "Jews will not replace us!" was a rallying cry.[4] This may be in reference to thewhite genocide conspiracy theory.
In March 2019, Lavin soldCulture Warlords to editor Paul Whitlatch atHachette Books.[1][5] It was published on October 13, 2020.[6][7]
Lavin invented online personae, which allowed her to gain entry to white supremacist websites and chatrooms, gathering information for journalists andanti-fascist activists. The book describes these present-day encounters while also tracing “the distant and near history of thealt-right, from the medieval Europeanblood libel toHenry Ford’s mainstreaming of anti-Semitic ideas toGamergate and the stories of a radicalized adolescentYouTuber.”[3]
Publishers Weekly called the book a "bracing and wide-ranging look at the internet as a breeding ground for racism and misogyny. Readers with a strong stomach for hateful ideology will find plenty of harrowing takeaways."[6]Kirkus gaveCulture Warlords astarred review[8] andUSA Today named it number one in the “hottest new book releases” for the week it was published.[9]
Writing inThe New York Times, Jennifer Szalai said, "One of the marvels of this furious book is how insolent and funny Lavin is."[10] In her review for theBoston Globe, Kate Tuttle notes that while other books treat similar material, Lavin's work "feels particularly insightful, perhaps because she understands so deeply both the modern idiom in which these bigots operate today and their historic roots in race science, eugenics, and anti-Semitism."[11]
Time namedCulture Warlords one of the 100 must-read books of 2020.[12]