In Culture Warlords, Talia Lavin delves into the digital world of white nationalism, leaving behind her own identity as a loud, unapologetic, and profoundly anti-racist Jewish woman to infiltrate online hate circles. Lavin uses various aliases to to gain access to these groups: a blonde Nazi "babe", a bitter and forlorn incel, and a violent femme fatale with the username “Aryan Queen”, and in the process paints a startling portrait of modern intolerance. Culture Warlords reveals the extremists hiding in plain sight and turns the lens of anti-Semitism, racism, and white power back on itself to dismantle and decimate the modern hate movement from within.
San Mateo County Libraries will host Talia Lavin as part of our Between the Lines author series on Tuesday, March 23 at 6:00 PM. Talia will be in conversation with Charles Stone, Mayor of the City of Belmont and Library Governing board member. Please register in advance to join.
Pick up your hold on Culture Warlords at Curbside Services or download it as an eBook and eAudioBook via Overdrive and Axis360. We are excited to give away a limited number of Culture Warlords at all our locations, opens a new window during Curbside Servics hours (11:00 AM-4:00 PM) beginning Thursday, March 11 while supplies last. For those who wish to purchase their own copy of the book, you can do so via our Library Foundation.
Praise for Culture Warlords
Culture Warlords is the Editor’s Choice for the New York Times Book Review and listed as a must-read by Time Magazine, Kirkus, New York Times, and USA Today.
"[A] skillful memoir... [with] highly useful insights... Righteous indignation meets techie magic to shine light on one of America’s most malignant warts." — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"Lavin takes investigative journalism to the next level... This is a heavy read, but an important one." — Library Journal
"In Culture Warlords, Talia Lavin capably leads readers through chilly tunnels of loathing, burrowing deep into dens of violent racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny. She describes communities of hate and how they're growing with precision, seriousness, and humor. Even as she takes on multiple identities, readers will find in her a steady and often lyrical guide: transparent about her fears, fury, and ever-changing sense of self. Culture Warlords is surely brutal and urgent; it is also unexpectedly delicate." — Rebecca Traister, author of All the Single Ladies, Good and Mad
"As someone who has gone undercover and waded through the dark trenches of white supremacy, I know firsthand how jarring it can be to find yourself in the belly of the beast-and the courage it takes to dig your way to the other side. Culture Warlords is a searingly original and breathtaking feat of fearless journalism, and it is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand the nefarious context for the world we live in today." — Ron Stallworth, author of Black Klansman
Talia Lavin is a Harvard University alum and freelance writer. Lavin has had bylines in The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New York Times Review of Books, Washington Post, Village Voice, and more.
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