Resisting the Right: How to Survive the Gathering Storm

by Robert Edwards

Resisting the Right is a handbook for surviving a far-right take-over of the United States. Today, that prospect is a frightening reality. It threatens the irreversible destruction of America’s democratic system.

In a powerful and necessary intervention, Robert Edwards urges that we prepare now for this nightmarish scenario, the better to resist and transcend it.

Edwards shows how a right-wing autocracy can be combatted using political action, civil disobedience, economics, cyberspace, traditional media, social media, the arts, and even our personal relationships.

A former US Army intelligence officer who now works as a successful screenwriter, Edwards draws on his military training to assess “the threat,” and his storyteller’s imagination to play out likely scenarios.

At a time when the future of American democracy teeters on a cliff edge, the urgency of Resisting the Right could not be more acute.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2024

Reviews

[Dr Goon Taco Supreme · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Resisting the Right” has a lot of ideas about how best to fight against a dictatorship. As far as I can tell, the most important thing is to keep your mind right and never give up your power. Resist! Stay away from propaganda and brainwashing tactics. Never fall for fascist policies where the powers that be are attempting to get you to hate your neighbor. Hate is a weakness. We need to be united to fight back effectively. We are all in this together.

We’ve got to stand united to fight the real enemies: the billionaires and their goons. To quote Winston Churchill, “Never, never, never give up.”

And from his speech, “The Beaches”, but altered to suit the present moment:

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in (the streets,) we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our (country,) whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

[David Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Edwards (The King's Necktie blogger) wrote this book before the 2024 presidential election. His insights are clarifying and very worth internalizing. His writing is clear and easily digested. This book is necessary reading if you want strategies for combating authoritarianism.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went into this with higher expectations than were probably warranted, making it a bit of a disappointment. I was already familiar with a lot of the descriptions of the ideology of the far right from keeping up with the news and political analysis of the last ten years or so. However, it is useful as a sort of synthesis of a number of more popular books that do include strategic and tactical discussions about non-violent resistance. This was written before the 2024 election, so it is more about preventing what's already happened than it is about resisting the current state of things.