Hot on the heels of his major 2016 intervention, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism, George Hawley has released a kind of follow-up study on the nascent neo-Nazis and ethno-nationalists forming the fascistic core of the so-called Alt-Right movement. Intended for an American audience in light of its country-specific references, this slimmer book provides the first in-depth study of a movement equally misunderstood and seductive; the latter, it seems, not just for racists and internet trolls, but for 24-hour news cycles. While no doubt swiftly put together ¨C interviews with leading protagonists range from October 2016 to February 2017 ¨C Hawley¡¯s six main chapters betray neither the analytical superficiality nor the sloppiness that often come from speed-writing.

Even so, the remarkable speed of events in American politics over the past year means that the invariable six months¡¯ production time for quality academic monographs already presents, in places, a dated context. Gone from the Trump administration is Steve Bannon, the Svengali of what Hawley calls the ¡°Alt-Lite¡± ¨C in essence far-right nationalists falling short of the full-fat white supremacism characterising the much smaller Alt-Right proper. Likewise his concluding assertion that the Alt-Right ¡°at present cannot be classified as a violent movement¡±: the chaos at Charlottesville on 11-12 August put paid to that, exemplified by the murder of Heather Heyer and the hospitalisation of 19 other counter-protesters. Alt-Right activists were at the centre of violence across that weekend, of which the car-ramming attack was the most vicious.

Making Sense of the Alt-Right?is light on prognostications, and is all the better for it. The focus is instead placed upon the recent trajectory of this youthful movement, one ¡°totally distinct from conservatism as we know it¡± and ¡°atomised, amorphous, predominately online and mostly anonymous¡±. Although he doesn¡¯t go so far as to label the group Fascists ¨C which, for my money, they surely are ¨C Hawley is content to describe the Alt-Right as racist and white nationalist, purveyors of an ¡°extremist ideology¡± whose ¡°significant figures¡­want to see the creation of a white ethnostate in North America¡±.

That is unmistakable by looking into those befouled corners of social media (Twitter, yes, but especially Reddit and 4chan) where this ¡°Grand Troll Army¡± mainly coagulates. The racial hatred and anti-Semitic vulgarity are astonishing, even for seasoned analysts of right-wing extremism. Yet even they might not appreciate the full trajectory adduced here. After a whistle-stop tour of extreme-right predecessors, Hawley identifies a more ¡°intellectual¡± and ideologically wide-ranging ¡°first wave¡± Alt-Right emerging around 2008, four years before Richard Spencer popularised the term (initially as ¡°Alternative Right¡±). While continuities between waves might have been more clearly delineated, there is no doubt that ¡°traditional¡± activists ceded ground to an online explosion of trolls and race-haters whose use of humour, if that is the right word, is certainly novel for the radical right.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

These and other well-developed points, like the allegedly greater hostility felt towards conservatives than progressives by the Alt-Right, make this readable study relevant well beyond its target audience. Excluding images, save for a solitary word cloud, is a shame, not least given the Alt-Right¡¯s outrageous meme culture. Yet these, too, are becoming increasingly familiar online, as the movement continues to grow ¨C if not mellow, or mature.

Matthew Feldman co-directs the Centre for Fascist, AntiFascist and Post-Fascist Studies at Teesside University.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Making Sense of the Alt-Right
By George Hawley
Columbia University Press
232pp, ?22.95
ISBN 9780231185127
Published 17 October 2017