Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I hate politicians, I hate the media, I hate comedy, and I hate cucks (or cuckold). The Proud Boys are men who love me. Gavin McInnes loves two things: hating black people and mocking women. He loves America, but hates what it has become. He is a reactionary who’s always been against—and he hates losing power. The Proud Boys at one point had a song about McInnes: I’m Gavin McInnes and I’m proud to have a phallus. The Proud Boys are a loose-knit group of men who identify with McInnes’ politics, and they have their own website, the ProudBoys. com forum, and regular meetups around the nation. They’ve become perhaps the most controversial political movement in half a decade—one that sees its members arrested on a regular basis at protests, rioters, and clashes with Antifa (the so-called antifascist). -> The origins of the Proud Boys can be traced back to one reactionary bigot behind a microphone who hated a child he figured was a fatherless Puerto Rican. #2 The Proud Boys are a group of men who identify with McInnes’ politics, and they have their own website and meetups. #3 In the 1990s, McInnes began to look at his own brand of counterculture as a business venture. He started a zine in Montreal about his life experiences, which was widely panned by local critics but became infamous after he sent a series of threatening letters splattered in his own blood to the writers who gave him negative reviews. #4 A group of men who identify with McInnes’ politics have their own website and meetups. They’ve become perhaps the most controversial political movement in half a decade.

A gripping investigation into the nation’s most notorious far-right group, revealing how they created a new blueprint for extremism and turned American politics into a blood sport After the 2016 election, Americans witnessed a frightening trend: the sudden rise of a host of new extremist groups across the country. Emboldened by a new president, they flooded political rallies and built fervent online presences, expanding rapidly until they were a regular sight at everyday demonstrations. Amid the chaos, one group emerged as a leader among the others, with matching outfits, bizarre rituals, and a reputation for violence: the Proud Boys. From leading extremism reporter Andy Campbell, We Are Proud Boys is the definitive narrative exploration of this notorious street gang and all the far-right movements they’re connected to. Through groundbreaking new reporting, Campbell delivers the untold story of a gang of blundering, punch-happy goons who grew to become the centerpiece of American extremism and positioned themselves as the unofficial enforcement arm of the GOP. Beginning with their founding by Gavin McInnes, the media personality best known for co-founding VICE, Campbell takes us deep into the Proud Boys, laying bare their origins and their rise to prominence. As he exposes the group's noxious culture and strange rituals, he reveals how the ultimate project of the Proud Boys–to desensitize Americans to political violence–has succeeded entirely, culminating with Republicans calling the January 6 insurrection "legitimate political discourse." The bizarre, frightening story of the Proud Boys reveals the playbook they have created for domestic extremism, giving us the necessary insight to push back against radicalism in America before it swallows our democracy whole.

Longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award in Nonfiction “Sweeping...A new way to make sense not only of the past, but of the contemporary culture wars.” —New York Times Book Review “A provocative culmination of Slotkin’s field-defining arguments on the place of violence in creating America.” —Kathleen Belew “Brisk, bold, and thought-provoking.” —Daniel Lazare, Arts Fuse “[An] exciting and detailed new decoder ring of a book...While it is usually hyperbolic to claim that a book will change your life, this one may well have a permanent effect on how you consume and think about American political news.” —Tom Zoellner, Los Angeles Review of Books Red America and Blue America are so divided they could be two different countries, with wildly diverging views of why government exists and who counts as American. Their ideologies are grounded in different versions of American history, endorsing irreconcilable visions of patriotism and national identity. A Great Disorder is a bold, urgent work that helps us make sense of today’s culture wars through a brilliant reconsideration of America’s foundational myths and their use in contemporary politics. Richard Slotkin identifies five key narratives that have shaped our conception of what it means to be American: the myths of the Frontier, the Founding, the Civil War (with dueling views of it as Liberation or the Lost Cause), and the Good War. Today, Slotkin argues, Trump and his MAGA followers play up a frontier-inspired hostility to the federal government and rally around Confederate symbols to champion a racially exclusive definition of American nationality; meanwhile, Blue America takes its cue from the protest movements of the 1960s, envisioning a limitlessly pluralistic country in which the federal government is the ultimate enforcer of rights and opportunities. With these opposing perspectives, American history—and the foundations of our democracy—has become a battleground. It remains to be seen which vision will prevail.

What is the alt-right? What do they believe, and how did they take center stage in the American social and political consciousness? Historian Alexandra Minna Stern excavates the alt-right memes that have erupted online and digs to the root of the far right’s motivations: their deep-seated fear of an oncoming “white genocide” that can only be remedied through aggressive action to reclaim white power. The alt-right has expanded significantly throughout America’s cultural, political, and digital landscapes: racist, sexist, and homophobic beliefs that were previously unspeakable have become commonplace, normalized, and accepted—endangering American democracy and society as a whole. When asked to address the Proud Boys and growing far right violence, President Trump directed the group to “stand back and stand by;” and just two weeks before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, a white supremacist mob breached the US Capitol—earning praise from the Proud Boys leader amongst threats of future violence. In order to dismantle the destructive movement that has invaded our public consciousness and threatens American democracy, we must first understand the core beliefs that drive the alt-right. Through careful analysis, Stern brings awareness to the underlying concepts that guide the alt-right and its overlapping forms of racism, xenophobia, and transphobia. She explains the key ideas of “red-pilling,” strategic trolling, gender essentialism, and the alt-right’s ultimate fantasy: a future where minorities have been “cleansed” from the body politic and a white ethnostate is established in the United States. By unearthing the hidden mechanisms that power white nationalism, Stern reveals just how pervasive the far right truly is.

Out of Hiding: Extremist White Supremacy and How It Can Be Stopped explains how white supremacist extremism endures, the varied forms it takes, its relationship with systemic racism, and what to do about it. The book draws on more than 30 years of extensive data and direct experiences with extremists to describe how white supremacy moved into the spotlight during the first two decades of the 21st century. The argument focuses on three moments between 2008 and today during which white supremacists took opportunities to move from pockets of underground activism to violent protests across the United States. The authors offer a corrective to observers who mischaracterize today’s racial extremism as a new form of ‘alt-right’ conservatism or ‘white nationalism’ emanating from an isolated, poorly educated, and economically disenfranchised online fringe. These misunderstandings reflect the limited attention given to the varied and persistent forms of racial extremism that have long simmered in America and an inability to acknowledge the appeal white supremacist messages can hold for a broad swath of the U.S. population. This volume contributes a longer view than other books to demonstrate that today’s white supremacy is less a unique eruption than a continuation –and an acceleration –of longstanding U.S. white supremacy. This is essential reading for scholars and activists interested in racism, white supremacy, and far-right extremism.

Caught in the no man's land between being a key figure in Downing Street and the relative anonymity of the world outside politics, Alastair Campbell finds himself being torn in several directions. Having succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown wants Campbell at his side. Campbell resists, flooding his reservoir of guilt as a general election looms and Brown's indecision and fluctuating moods suggest the Labour administration is seriously threatened by the Tory 'posh boy', David Cameron. Soon Campbell is earning not only praise but big money from motivational speaking and writing novels which darkly reflect the personal mood swings that continue to concern to both him and his family. Serious journalism across platforms old and new puts him back in the public eye and together with live appearances and a love of sport – his enduring love affair with Burnley Football Club still smoulders – sees him board a celebrity merry-go-round that often leaves him far from his comfort zone. With politics constantly tugging his sleeve, he eventually returns to the front line to marshal a party in disarray. The intensity of the months leading up to 6 May 2010 is as dramatic as any screenplay, with Campbell chronicling Brown's struggle to win over a disillusioned nation and then his dignified departure from the main stage. For Campbell, another chapter closes. So what next?