Lucas Blogs About Books

Once again, I must comment on the badass cover. So, what's this book's deal? Well, the deal with Neoreaction a Basilisk  should be obvious from its subtitle: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right . But in case it isn't, it's a collection of essays by Elizabeth Sandifer concerning the origins and philosophical implications of the Alt-Right. Not some light summer reading then? Well, yes and no. While the subject matter is often quite serious, Sandifer's prose is engaging and accessible. For example, the first essay — from which the collection draws its title — is a lengthy and involved discussion of the texts that might be considered foundational to contemporary reactionary movements, with a lengthy digression comparing their prophetic mode to the poetry of William Blake; however, Sandifer's writing never becomes dry or academic. Partly because she makes liberal use of jokes and asides to show that while she's willing to take the arguments of the Alt-Right seriou...

Pretty sure something is getting DESTROYED with FACTS and LOGIC on this cover. So, what's this book's deal? Well, the deal with Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left  is that it's a pamphlet by Rutgers University Philosophy professor Ben Burgis. And the deal of said pamphlet is . . .  That philosophy and logic should not be thought of as primarily tools of the political Right. You see, an extremely online person might be aware of a certain political commentator ( seen here demonstrating his ignorance of the adversarial interview technique and his interlocutor's political leanings ) who proclaims that, "Facts don't care about your feelings." A statement which, while true, tells you more about the speaker (it's Ben Shapiro, I don't know why I didn't just say his name outright, there's a cartoon of him being shushed by David Hume on the cover) than anything else. Less online people are probably at least tangentially aware of ...