RaveFinancial Times (UK)... a stark, powerful introduction to the combination of misogyny, anti-Semitism and white supremacy to follow ... Lavin\'s work...has a raw and deeply understandable anger. That is not to its detriment. All too often, analyses of white nationalism and the far-right have devolved into anodyne stories of \'Nazis buy milk too\', or else created false equivalence with counter-protesters. Culture Warlords is a compelling read, combining the historical narratives of the far-right and anti-Semitism with an exploration of the individuals who follow such ideologies ... The more traditionally academic sections...are succinct but punchy ... Though Lavin’s work was published before the last presidential election, the \'Stop the Steal\' campaign and the Capitol Hill riots, the lessons it offers are certain to remain relevant in the Biden era.
Rutger Bregman
PositiveFinancial TimesReleasing a book with the subtitle \'a hopeful history\' during a pandemic that has led to thousands of deaths, put millions out of work and threatens to undermine the global financial system, is a brave choice...But Dutch historian Rutger Bregman’s latest work has enough research and anecdotes to make even Hobbesian cynics feel a little less jaded about humanity — even if they may not be fully convinced by every anecdote or example that he offers ... Bregman’s attacks on the consensus around our nature are often delivered with aplomb and evidence ... Even when the stories covered are not novel, Bregman successfully ties them into an overarching narrative that, on balance, humanity is not so bad ... The writing is not without fault. Bregman has a tendency to grandstanding, particularly in his introduction. Labelling his central thesis as a \'mind-bending drug\' feels more than a little unnecessary. His claim that \'to stand up for human goodness is to take a stand against the powers that be\' also feels unnecessary, not least at a time when conspiracy theories about globalist elites are rife ... But Humankind is engaging enough to overlook these moments. Certainly, it is hard not to feel a greater sense of hope after reading the statistics on how hard it is to make soldiers want to kill their opponent ... in some ways these are redundant: the story of humanity woven into the book is sufficient to suggest a healthy way forward. Whether or not it is a truly \'new realism\' is a point for debate. But Bregman’s examples offer a more caring ideal for how to perceive the world, a concept that is only going to seem more relevant in years to come.
