New Dark Ages by Warren Kinsella
Book Review by Dawn Thomas

320 Pages
Publisher: Dundurn
Release Date: December 4, 2018

The description of the book could be written from the news headlines. America is divided and people are not afraid to show their prejudices. Earl Turner is running for president and decided to be honest with his feelings and opinions. He begins by declaring white power over one and all. The other candidates are appalled but once they see Turner’s campaign is gaining steam, they climb aboard the train.

Kurk Blank and his band the Hot Nasties are a punk band. They are about to begin their first tour. Unfortunately, Danny, one of the band members hears Turner’s speeches and leaves the band. No one can understand why he did this since Turner is the opposite of everything they stand for.

Warning: There is drug use and an overdose along with violence. I admit I was horrified reading this book because it is feels so real. This is a book that everyone should read that feels strongly about current conditions in America. It reminds me of the book “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis in 1935.

I had really enjoyed “Recipe for Hate”, and welcomed a return to the X gang, with its associated punk bands: the “Hot Nasties” and the “Punk Rock Virgins”. They are no longer being personally targeted, but that does not mean that the Far Right has finished with them yet.
There is a new player in town – Earl Turner – who has his eyes on the Republican nomination for President. Earl Turner is a new-comer to politics. He is young, good-looking and charismatic, and – for many – a very welcome change to the ruling political elite (sound familiar?). He is also a rabble-rousing populist, for whom the label ‘politically incorrect’ is seen as an accolade. Immediately your thoughts go to Trump, but Earl Turner has the potential to be much worse: “And hate was what Earl Turner’s speech was all about … Hate for refugees and immigrants and welfare moms and anyone, basically, who didn’t look like Earl Turner and his friends. Hate dressed up in fine-sounding words about patriotism and family and country and all that horse****”, “America is for Americans. America is for the righteous. America is for the bold. America is for those who believe in God, those who love God, those who fear God. America isn’t for everyone. America is for normal people like us!”.
Earl Turner doesn’t just make light of the racism of the Klu Klux Klan and their ilk, he positively embraces them. His catch-phrase begins as “Right! Right! Right!” then morphs into “White! White! White!”. While Trump has yet to descend so far, the endorsement by many Republicans of Turner (because he is popular) and the bewilderment of the mainstream media and the educated alarmingly mirrors the rise (and continued rise) of Trump: “The more the media hated him, the more the pointy-headed intellectuals dismissed him and said, for the millionth time, that he had gone too far this time, that his campaign was never going to recover, blah blah blah, the stronger Earl Turner got. … calling Earl Turner a racist and a bigot wasn’t ever going to work, because a lot of Americans were racists and bigots, too. They liked what he had to say about the minorities who they believed had taken away their jobs and their culture and their country. And they didn’t like elites who called Earl Turner a racist and a bigot, either, because those elites were basically also calling them racists and bigots. The second reason the mainly rural, high-schooleducated, angry old white guys loved Earl Turner, … wasn’t just because of what he said. They worshipped him because of how he said it — the way he said it. They loved him because he talked like they did when they were in the privacy of their homes.”
Along with hating every other minority group, Turner has also declared war on the punks, and the X gang is horrified to see one of their own – Danny – join Turner’s campaign, and become a poster boy, as one who has seen the light and denounced punk.
Punks are being murdered again – specifically those going to see the Hot Nasties play. While the blame cannot be directly laid at Turner’s door, the anti-punk hatred he has been spewing makes such crimes inevitable. The Hot Nasties are on their first ever official tour, having been signed by Stiff Records, and are really worried about further murders. The FBI has assigned Agent Laverty to keeps tabs on them, and – despite his natural dislike of authority – Kurt find himself working closely with her. Meanwhile, Kurt is descending into a crack cocaine addiction, X is becoming even more enigmatic and the rest of the X Gang are struggling to cope.
The author has worked “in politics and in the anti-racism trenches for many years”, has written books on the punk movement and plays in a punk band. Through the narration of Kurt, he expounds his views on the role of punk rock as a transformative, liberal approach to life and inclusivity – as a complete contrast to the ideologies of Turner, Trump, Putin, Duarte, … (there are so many in the world today): “Punk takes a young person’s anger and makes them do something, and feel something, and be someone. It makes a kid feel that he or she actually can shape the future — and, sometimes, it helps them to actually do it. It makes those unlivable parts livable again. It gives hope. It sings.” … “Punk rock was always overwhelmingly progressive, you see. Almost every punk placed himself or herself on the left side of the spectrum. We were the kids in every high school who were feminist or gay or socialist or artsy or overweight or lonely or unathletic or homely or geeky or lost. We were not on the football team or the cheerleading squad or student council. We were the rejected and the outcasts. And we were, almost to a one, political lefties.”
I was a late convert to punk music (listening to The Clash and Iggy Pop as I write this review), but never a punk. Reading this book makes me think that maybe we need more Punk in the world. If young (and not so young) people could channel their anger, frustration and fear into music and through that into an inclusive world view, instead of turning to hatred and division, then the world would be a better place. Rap, another derided music genre, has created a similar outlet for young urban youth in the last 30 years. Unfortunately, both punk and rap also have their dark sides, and are not always forces for good.
This book is not as fast paced and riveting as the first book, but is still a very good, and thought provoking, read. It is set in the 1970s but has very clear resonance in today’s troubled world.
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The second book in Warren Kinsella's X-Gang series, while set in the '80s, sees the rise of a candidate that's eerily familiar: Earl Turner is an all-American guy running for President on a "White is Right" platform, and the country seems to be eating it up. His numbers are going up, his rallies are teeming with supporters, and, most distressing to Kurt Blank and the rest of the X Gang, their former drummer, Danny Hate, is right smack in the middle of it. He went "conservative" after incidents from the first novel (Recipe for Hate, 2017), but to be showing up at political rallies as Earl Turner's right-hand man? Meanwhile, dead punks are being discovered in cities right after the Nasties' - the X Gang's band - shows, and Kurt's drug habit is starting to become a problem.

Set in the '80s, New Dark Ages is a reminder that we haven't come as far - or is it fallen as far? - as we thought we may have. Earl Turner has that jock appeal that went over so well at the time, with the current administration's open malice for anyone not like him. The narrative tends to jump around a bit, though, and while there's some good punk culture fiction happening here, along with potentially interesting political intrigue, there are too many balls in the air to keep a cohesive storyline in play.

Is New Dark Ages YA? Not necessarily, but it's got crossover potential. The characters are in the age range, and confronting issues that will most definitely affect their futures. It's an additional purchase if you've got readers interested in punk culture (including us Gen X readers who were around at the time) and politically charged fiction.

Oddly disappointed in this book. I couldn't finish it. Mr. Kinsella's first book was.compelling. This missed the mark for me. I did make it 40% through, then I had to stop. My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Maybe it was better towards the end. Since I was not willing to subject myself to more, maybe..just maybe it ended up o.k. In all fairness I'll rate it at 2 1/2 stars. Rounded up to nothing but 2 and 1/2 stars. Kinsella's first book was a great read. This was not.