My review of Ronald Beiner’s excellent book Radical Right Ideologues in the Age of Trump: Heralds of Nihilism is out now in the Journal of Hate Studies.
Beiner’s book addresses several intellectuals with influence in fascist movements. Treading with care, he neither legitimizes their ideas, nor ignores their academic credentials and their dangerous impact. In particular, Beiner looks at how fascist intellectuals today are using philosophers like Nietzsche and Heidegger and relying on academic credentials to promote their ideology and movements.
In the review, I call on publishers, conference organizers, hiring committees, and graduate admissions committees to examine the theoretical implications and social movement involvement of applicants and colleagues and not to be naive about the role of fascists in academia, and I call for further examination of fascist intellectuals and their ties to academia, including some around the journal Telos. (This article was written before the latest attention given to Nathan Cofnas, the “race realist” (i.e., racist) philosopher whose accusations of plagiarism contributed to a media storm and subsequent suicide of professor Jason Arday. Cofnas is another great example of where boundaries need to be drawn.)
You can read my review and other pieces from this “reviews issue” of the journal here: The Journal of Hate Studies | Gonzaga Library Publishing | Journals | Gonzaga University. (Also included in this issue is a review of the book David Gides and I co-edited on Christian nationalism.)
