This book is so good and still so very Timely today. That makes me a little sad but this is a title I have recommended will continue to recommend and I'm glad was written it's a very necessary book

I learned a lot whilst reading this book, although I did find that there were some things/terms repeated, the overlying message and sheer will Lavin had to be able to act like these monsters overshadowed any small error.

A GREAT piece of nonfiction. Terrifying, harrowing, and disturbing. A must read! Talia Lavin is awesome & not to mention, brave. She tells it like it is & doesn’t hold back. The fact that she dove headfirst into this effed up underworld full of disgusting POS’s and put their despicable agendas into the spotlight, honestly makes her a hero. My mom (who also read and loved this book!) said it best: We need to be finding these assholes, doxxing them, and making THEIR lives hell.

Thank you, Talia, for such an honest piece of nonfiction. Thank you to Hachette Books & NetGalley for a copy of the e-book in exchange for an honest review!

What a dizzying book. Talia takes us into the belly of the beast, giving us an inside peek into the terrifying world of white supremacy. I'd been a fan of her work from following her on twitter, so I knew a bit of what I might expect here. Really thoughtful, smart, and clearly rapidly written (and thus up to date) in a way that also makes for a quick read, I got a deep dive into the alt-right. Recommended reading.

This was an interesting look at white supremacy today on the internet. While the information is important, I found it difficult to connect to the writer's writing style and the book felt slow at times. I found the historical information just as interesting as the present-day information and the author gives us a detailed look at what goes on outside of the mainstream attention on this topic.

Four stars for the book and an additional star because Talia Lavin is a badass antifascist hero who literally risks her life and mental health to expose neo-Nazis with genocidal ideations. You rock, Talia.

In Culture Warlords, Talia Lavin describes her journey (and life's work) infiltrating white supremacist groups on the Internet, in the deepest, exclusive corners of the web where "contributors [feel] safe to speak freely." In order to do so, Lavin invented personas that were very much the opposite of who she is. Instead of being a Jewish, outspoken, antifascist reporter, who would never be allowed into the myriad Discord servers, Gab, Voat, etc., Lavin becomes Ashlynn, a waitress in a small-town Midwest diner whose loves to hunt and dreams of bearing upstanding Aryan children. She becomes Tommy O'Hara, an incel with cystic acne whose forays onto r/theincelpill and r/foreveralone began to radicalize him into deep misogyny with violent desires. Only by becoming the picture of white supremacy and incel-ism can Lavin successfully infiltrate these communities, observe their violent rhetoric in the wild, and hopefully learn enough personal information about these fascists to expose them.

This is equal parts antifascist activism - exposing neo-Nazis and white supremacists - as it is a study in anthropology. Lavin details the virtual dictionary of words and dog-whistles in different communities that signify one has been initiated, e.g. in the incel community, "Chads and Stacys" are sexually successful men and women, "rope" is suicide, and "going ER" is committing mass murder much like the incel community's god and hero, Elliot Rodgers, who went on a shooting spree at a Santa Barbara sorority and left behind a manifesto about incelism that has become the bible for the community. This extensive vocabulary allows members of the group to find other initiated members on more restrictive fora like Twitter and Facebook (relatively more restrictive, compared to anonymous/"free speech" oriented platforms) without discussing topics that would cause bans or shadowbans.

Lavin also explores how the Internet is a unique tool when it comes to radicalization - all it takes is a few hours on the right fora, and any person who's felt a shred of hatred toward Black people or Jews can become radicalized into a full-on white supremacist. Manifestos and videos are easily distributed, and interested participants can fall down internet holes and get to places where talking about mass murder and genocide is the cool thing to do.

Lavin spends chapters on white supremacist dating sites, incel groups, neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups, and more. She witnesses members discussing if they would r*pe her after she posts an article about white supremacy, and she becomes the target of benign-but-horrifying floods of images of roast beef and real death threats after she publicly exposes a European neo-Nazi. I can't even imagine the toll that this work has taken on her physical and mental health, and I applaud her for it.

This is one of the most fascinating and horrifying books I've read this year, but I tore through it because learning about this increasingly present and dangerous group is important, especially when President #45 refuses to condemn white supremacy and tells them to "stand back and stand by." Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley!

This book was written with the urgency that the subject matter requires. I so admire Lavin's courage in taking on this work and her uncompromising moral courage in her writing. She makes it clear that there is no middle ground here, white supremacy must be eradicated.

Talia Lavin is really a hero. Who else wants to enter the underworld of white supremacists and women haters to find out what makes them tick, who they are, where they are and what can we do about them? It isn’t easy and I give her a million kudos for even attempting it. She has brought serious attention on herself and as a Jew and a woman she is placing herself in harm’s way. So Talia be careful!!!!

This book brings to the surface the rotten pus pocket at center of our society. That surface is currently bubbling and ready to erupt thanks to our authoritarian president and his enabling staff and senators, some of whom are Neo-nazis like Stephen Miller. Let’s be real. This should not be happening in America but it is. This book is well researched and well written. The only complaint I have is that it isn’t long enough! This is the tip of the iceberg. We need to be finding these assholes, doxxing them and making their lives hell. I wish I was younger that’s all I can say. This book makes me angry and yet I am so glad Talia wrote it because it will make a difference! Hate is not confined to one thing, one enemy. It likes to see connections where they don’t even exist and exploit them for the sake of more hate. It is pernicious. We see it every day in our news cycles. This country needs to stop this downward spiral now. Start by voting them all out! It won’t stop the hate that’s already out there but maybe we can get a handle on it. We have to for the sake of our country and future generations.

Read this book and then read more!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a book that was terrifying and harrowing, and while I knew a fair amount about white supremacist movements online (as well as misogynistic movements like incels, though the overlap is definitely there), Lavin really peels back the nitty gritty of the awfulness. She has well researched information, as well as primary sources given that she basically went full on undercover to get close to these groups in their online forums and message boards, which is so incredible to me. Her grit and bravery is stunning, and while I don't like to toss the word 'hero' around for any old thing, I really do see her as such. She also did have a lot of information that I didn't know, and while this book made me a bit more paranoid regarding the safety of my loved ones and myself, I really appreciate getting all these details. It's important to know what antifascists are up against right now. And it's really, really scary.

CULTURE WARLORDS is a must read given the election coming up and the people that the GOP has been buddying up with and catering to. These online fringe groups MUST be taken seriously. The danger is there and it keeps on growing.

Forget other horror novels...this is the top pick for a terrifying Halloween 2020 read.

Culture Warlords is a deep dive into the world of white supremacy by self-described Jewish "loudmouth" Talia Lavin, who uses a variety of methods including catfishing and false histories to break into dark web forums and chatrooms in order to document and expose the fascist and racist world of the alt-right. Each chapter is separated into a different "theme" of alt-right hatred, such as antisemitism, antifeminism, Trumpism, and religious warfare. Lavin along the way is often exposed to brutal hatred and trolling from her targets, but she hangs in to do the job unimaginably well. Lavin's coverage extends far beyond what many in the mainstream would define as the alt-right, exposing a hidden world of delusion and the most toxic masculinity one can imagine.

Culture Warlords is an incredibly depressing and scary look at how low humanity can truly sink, but it is required and eye-opening reading.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Hatchette Books.**

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Hachette Books.

Wow. This book is not for the faint of heart. It honestly took me forever to get through it because o lot of the things discussed are pretty revolting.

Talia takes us through the Disturbed world of white supremacy online. It's nasty stuff and I'm so grateful for Lavin for putting in the work.

An incredibly disturbing and illuminating book about a section of society that many people outside of conversative chat rooms don’t know about. Sure, there are whispers and assumptions, but the true extent of the rhetoric of the far right, and the pain of knowing how that extent directly applies to people’s interpretations of you, is the most powerful part of this collection. Very important!

Delve into the right wing, ultra conservative, racist, anti-semitic, homophobic, underbelly,of online groups/websites. A world that Talia Lavin infiltrates in Culture Warlords.

Lavin's experience comes as no surprise that their are people out there who feel marginalized, threatened, and so filled with hatred it seems to consume their everyday lives. At least I wasn't surprised.

What intrigued me the most was discovering the why? Why someone feels or thinks this way. Levin creating a fake online profile and persona provides some answers to this question by incorporating history and current events into the book along with her experiences in life.

For me the book is relevant to our world today and it may have come too close at time where I feel there is a general lack for humanity in today's society. The book has it's funny moments and it's disturbing moments.

If intrigued by the subject matter, I'd recommend this book. It's a thought provoking quick read. My thought overall: the internet is the toilet bowl of society.

Illuminating, sometimes amusing, and often disturbing – Lavin is a compelling narrator whose personal principles anchor the narrative even as it descends into some very dark places. Each case study of a different dark corner of the internet shines a light on extremism and provides critical context for anyone seeking to understand (and counter) contemporary white supremacist networks.

CULTURE WARLORDS: MY JOURNEY INTO THE DARK WEB OF WHITE SUPREMACY by Talia Lavin should win all the relevant awards. as an investigative journalist & writer, the author sacrificed her peace of mind & sense of security to infiltrate the alt-right spaces of the Internet. through her own experiences strengthened w/ additional research, she reveals that the alt-right monsters who plan violence & spew hatred are real people. although we might think that we know this already, we really learn who these people are and all that’s at stake through Talia Lavin’s words. central takeaway is that she wrote this book so that we can understand w/out having to endure what she persevered through to write Culture Warlords. did I mention that the writing is stunning, especially the intro, w/ zero weak chapters. thank you Hachette for my ARC!

I'm definitely a denizen of the web. Yes, I read the comments so you don't have to. Because of that, I ventured into CULTURE WARLORDS by Talia Lavin. The self-proclaimed "mouthy Jew" went on a deep dive in some of the darkest corners of Ye Olde Internet.

Imagine a square. At the corners are antisemitism, sexism, racism, and homophobia. Now connect those corners with diagonals. At the crossroads in the center is a heavily-armed white man in a Hawaiian shirt and a MAGA hat, reading a screed on his phone about how he has been denied his divine rights. That's where we start. That is ground zero for the bugaloo and the hootenanny.

Warning: this post may contain wording and images that are racist, sexist, and homophobic.


The author Talia Lavin is a force to be reckoned with on Twitter, and as such, has drawn the fire of every last mouth-breathing bottom-feeder that infests that space.

Including the white supremacists. Especially the white supremacists.

In the introduction to the book, she'll detail how she'd find her name and picture on white supremacist threads with questions like "Would you fuck a Jew?"

She fights back with snarky self-deprecating humor, a fierce determination, and vocabulary that Mirian-Webster would envy.

This isn't an easy read. It's not summer fluff or a "light beach read." But hang in there and be ready to learn something.

She starts out with a detailed and thoughtful discussion of what she considers to be at the root of it: antisemitism. The relentless "othering" of a group in order to create a sense of superiority. For them to be great and united, they have to have a common enemy.

I knew quite a bit about it but her discussions, for example, of the line between Henry Ford and Hitler but it's still disquieting. Read it. Be uncomfortable. Own it. And while it's not a topic of this book, Ford's contemporaries also tended to be eugenicists - with white protestant being the standard. Worship of the non-existent exalted Nordic is our history and dark heritage.

She talks quite a bit about de-platforming white supremacist groups on social media. However, social media is not a chain, it's a web. When you snip one thread, the groups reform somewhere deeper. So, instead of the public, not-overly secure platform of Facebook where racists are regularly called out and doxxed, they have moved to encrypted apps like Telegram. When programmers won't give up their encryption keys to the Russian government, that's as secure as it gets. Unless they out themselves (and Talia got several to,) they are truly anonymous. And anonymous on a platform where real Russians and Ukraine-trained fighters have access to them and their grievances - both real and imagined. It's a conundrum. She had to hold her stuff and keep her anonymity when she saw her own name pop up time and time again.

She talks about sites that were cut down to the soil, like 4chan and 8chan (now 8kun,) only to see them sprout again like the damn hackberry tree growing in a key place on my foundation. I took a quick run through the new sites. The notorious /b/ board on 4chan is mostly sleazy porn. 8kun has some fairly ugly stuff that's heading down the well-worn paths of neo-nazism, antisemitism, and racism.

It's not all gloom and doom. She went underground in a whites-only dating site (now defunct, a couple of times, but looks like it's back as WASP Love.) She goes into what it took to create profiles that passed on these sites and then holding the line while she drew these guys into conversations to get them to out themselves. There are some really funny moments. As a New Yorker, she chose Iowa. She's lucky she didn't get busted. The state is so sparsely populated that her bluff could have been called too easily. I'd have chosen someplace like Missouri. But she made it work as the AryanQueen1488 (for "The 14 Words" and the 88 meaning "Heil Hitler.")

Also, I'll confess, I didn't know about Soph. Wow . . . is all I can say. A teen, I don't know what, YouTube racism-spewing internet star who was de-platformed and is now safe behind a paywall at censored.tv. I couldn't access her vids, but reading the descriptions was enough for me.

The vocabulary of the four corners of my square is rough and she doesn't pull any punches. But, again, don't look away. You can't say #blacklivesmatter and #metoo and "may their memory be a blessing," and be anything more than a performative ally unless you are willing to look into the nest.

After Eliot Rodgers (now known as "Going ER,") I did my own tour around the man-o-sphere, peeking into the world of incels and PUAs. The biggest site is incels.co, but even they've gone underground compared to some of the stuff I used to see.

And, of course, she examines the connection between Christianity and white supremacy. The worship of the Templar knight ridding the holy land of the usurpers. It's a heady brew for disaffected young white men who believe the social contract betrayed them. When you've been told you are superior, equality feels like oppression. It can't be their fault. So, time to boogie.

We can't just laugh at them anymore. Yes, while many of them are Meal Team Six, this last round of street protests was peppered with vehicle rammings and other violence. They haven't been this emboldened since the old days of the KKK. And their leaders are trained, smart, and have weaponized the web.

CULTURE WARLORDS is that dense chewy read that keeps you turning pages. Don't look away. Talia is the essence of Antifa. She's bold, funny, smart, fearless, and uses the best weapon that we have, the bright light of day. Check it out, I dare you.

This book is brilliant & this book is horrifying. It is a scathing social commentary, that identifies the uncomfortable reality that Fascism is alive and well here.. but it’s also a darkly hilarious account of the author’s encounters with ridiculous humans, with frightening beliefs. Her narrative is also compassionate, and provides context & relevant sources. This was an outstanding work of creative, modern, brave journalism!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley & Hachette books for this e-ARC!

This was a complex read that often required me to put the book down and reflect on what I had just learned. This is, of course, the highest possible praise I can offer a non-fiction work that takes on the complicated world of organized hate. Even as someone who tries very hard to keep up on all the ways that misogyny, antisemitism, racism and white-supremacy have roots in American culture and politics, this was an eye-opener on many levels.

Levin blends important historical events and trends with her own undercover social media work to really explore white-supremacy and the people who live in a world of hate. The narrative, perhaps inevitably, expands to include all manner of bigotry. The ways that white-supremacy, misogyny and homophobia intertwine is thoroughly analyzed and examined. While many of us may have long suspected that incels, racists and homophobes make up one circle in a Venn diagram, this book gets into the connections that seem to create the relationship between all these manners of hatred. The systems by which that hatred trickles into politics, policy and social movements is also well explored, an especially important lesson for our current times. If you have also wondered who “these people” are, this book will help you understand just that.

Culture Warlords is a powerful and harrowing journey into the minds of those filled with hate. It's a unique perspective on their lives and how they function and thrive in our world. As unpleasant as it is, it's essential to recognize and oppose the white supremacy around us. Ms Lavin gives us all a starting point to understand who we are and what we're fighting against, and that our most powerful weapons are knowledge and love for our communities.

Language: Moderate (multiple racial, religious, cultural slurs, some "swear" words)
Drugs: None
Sex: Mild
Violence: High (death threats, genocide, rape, etc.)

For the subject matter, you will not be able put this book down once you start reading. This book is very well written and presented. It may be hard to read at times, but you must. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this had no bearing on this review. book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.