Making Sense of the Alt-Right

Making Sense of the Alt-Right
by George Hawley
Published: September 2017

Making Sense of the Alt-Right offers a quick primer on the relatively new extremist offshoot of American conservatism.
The Alternative Right's primary focus is aggressive, irreverent white-identitarian politics, but as it gains traction has also begun to capture a jumbled web of disgruntled conservatives seeking an outlet from the mainstream.

Hawley details the ideological foundations (racial realism, paleoconservatism, radical libretarianism) as well as the projections for the future of the movement in Trump's America. Because there is no centralized leader, the messages and strategies that "go viral" are the ones that are perpetuated, giving the movement a haphazard, disjointed quality.

4.5 out of 5 stars: Somehow despite being one of the biggest buzzwords of the 2016 election and following year, I didn't know much more about this trend than the fact that it existed and it's lifeblood was extremist hate speech. Turns out, news coverage of the group was only hyperbolic in insinuating the group was organized and cohesive (so don't worry, all of the horrible racist, misogynist, shocking language you've heard spewed really are quite accurate). Well-researched and very thorough read - I will definitely be checking out Hawley's other books in the hopes to shed some light on other factions within our political spectrum. Alt-left anyone?

// I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.