Behind the Bastards

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

Samuel P. Huntington

The discussion referenced Huntington's thesis to illustrate how postColdWar politics framed conflicts as cultural clashes.

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It seemed like a sort of kernel of truth in this. It was based on Huntington's writing about the clash of civilizations.

Balkan Ghosts

Robert D. Kaplan

The hosts noted that Bill Clinton had read the book, after which his administration's rhetoric shifted regarding the Balkans.

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and after Bill Clinton read that horrendous book, Balkan Ghosts by Kaplan, his administration's rhetoric began to change

Shanghai on Strike

Elizabeth J. Perry

One of the speakers cited Ferry's book as a detailed account of the 1925 Shanghai general strike.

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In a book called Shanghai on Strike by Elizabeth Ferry, she describes the massive labor actions and their aftermath.

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set Hardcover Illustrated edition 2020 June 25

J.R.R. Tolkien

The hosts compared the children's hockey movies The Mighty Ducks to The Lord of the Rings, calling the former the hockey equivalent of the classic fantasy series.

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The Mighty Ducks' premise was strong enough to sustain a trilogy, which no critics consider to be basically the children's hockey equivalent to The Lord of the Rings.

Devil's Bargain

Joshua Green

The hosts noted that journalist Joshua Green had written Devil's Bargain, a book about Steve Bannon's rise in the Trump administration.

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Bannon became fascinated with the collective power of gamers who gathered on these sites, according to journalist Joshua Green, who wrote a book, Devil's Bargain, about Bannon's rise in the Trump administration.

Thousand Plateaus (Athlone Contemporary European Thinkers)

Professor Gilles Deleuze

The analysis from these philosophers was referenced to discuss the ways in which fascism and totalitarianism differ, noting that fascism involves a war machine taking over the state. The text was also quoted to illustrate realized nihilism within fascism, characterized by an intense line of escape that transforms into pure destruction.

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They discuss the ways in which fascism and totalitarianism differ. They write that totalitarianism is a state affair made up of material components that overmanage society. Quote, even in the case of a military dictator it is a state army, not a war machine, that takes power and elevates the state to the totalitarian stage. Totalitarianism is quintessentially conservative. Fascism, on the other hand, involves a war machine. When fascism builds itself a totalitarian state, it is not in the sense of a state army taking power, but of a war machine taking over the state. Unquote.

The Suicidal State

Madoka Kishi

This essay by Virilio was discussed as the framework building off of Deleuze and Guattari's work, arguing that in fascism, the state is suicidal rather than strictly totalitarian. Virilio argued that this evolution of the state is guided by non-progress and terror, founded on the repulsion and fear of all development in the civil domain.

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This analysis from Deleuze and Guattari is building off of an essay by the French writer Paul Virilio called The Suicidal State, where Virilio argues that in fascism, the state is far less totalitarian than it is suicidal.

Progress

Samuel Miller McDonald

The speaker mentioned reading this book and planning a review for the podcast, noting how its content explored the pervasive concept of progress and how it can trip people up, sometimes acting like a sedative against engaging with degrading reality.

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You know, recently I read this book, Progress, by Samuel Miller MacDonald, and I would like to do a review of it at some point for the podcast, but... The short of it is that it gets into just how pervasive this concept of progress is in kind of tripping people up and keeping us serving systems that don't serve us.

Mephisto (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)

Klaus Mann

Deleuze and Guattari quoted from this 1936 novel, which contains fascist speeches, noting an excerpt eerily similar to the visuals of Trump as the suicidal penguin.

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In A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari quote an excerpt from Klaus Mann's 1936 novel Mephisto, which contains fascist speeches and ordinary conversations from Nazi Germany.

Starship Troopers

The hosts said it was apparently his favorite novel, that he reads it once a year, and noted that it is often interpreted as a fascist work.

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His favorite book was probably Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, surprising no one. His sister told the Daily Mail that he reads Starship Troopers once a year, which completely makes sense.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (S.F. MASTERWORKS)

Robert A. Heinlein

The book was cited as a key influence on libertarian thought, being called a foundational text for the American libertarian movement.

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One of his books, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, is often seen as providing a lot of the ideological underpinning for the libertarian movement.

Emperors in the Jungle

John Lindsay-Poland

This book served as the main resource for the detailed historical analysis of U.S. intervention in Panama, covering everything from the Bidlack Treaty to the 1989 invasion. The speaker found the book provided fantastic information on topics they had never heard discussed before, shaking them regarding events at the crossroads of the continents.

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Panama was a long-standing laboratory of U.S. imperial power.