Matthew Rose (2)

The book covers the following; Oswald Spengler, Julius Evola, Francis Parker Yockey, Alain de Benoist and Samuel Francis.

Sometimes you find just what you were looking for and for me this was it. A great series of portraits of some key figures in the far right political world from past to present and a sober take on all of them (often in these kinds of books the polemic against their views drowns any actual factual assessment of them). Rose makes sure to keep them from falling into a big slurry of some nebulous far right spectre; in fact it is the diversity bordering on total incoherence that is the theme of this series of snapshots. You have the obvious racists and anti-semites, but also those taking a stance against the concept of race, preferring a culture-centric view. You have an attempt at historical analysis in Spengler, and a mystic view of the destiny of peoples in Evola.

This motley set of ideas and ideals make it hard to pin down any real constants in the far right world. All the thinkers covered have their fans among groups in that sphere but how those intersect and how they manage sometimes completely contradictory views is the real question (though outside the scope of this book). A picture emerges of something closer to the extremist left where you have long standing internecine wars between rival factions and interpretations - except lacking the defined borders and definite answers, the far right is an ideological realm without a spine. More of a handwaving direction of similar themes than clear competing worldviews.

If there's any criticism to be had it's simply in the limits of the scope and selection; are these really the best representatives or sum of the far right ideologues? It's more "some" philosophers of the radical right than "the". How the far right handles the ideological flora was only touched upon. Though with that scope creep it might have been twice as long and not suitable as an introduction.… (plus d'informations)