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War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right
Steve Bannon in the United States. Olavo de Carvalho in Brazil. Aleksandr Dugin in Russia. Gábor Vona in Hungary. All rising to power in the past decade. All affiliated with an obscure philosophical movement called Traditionalism.
Since the early 20th century, Traditionalism has defined itself against modernity and Enlightenment values. Traditionalist thinkers such as René Guénon and Julius Evola celebrated hierarchy, denounced the idea of progress, and regarded liberal secularism, capitalism, and communism as aligned forces working to replace social, cultural and political norms. Ethnographer Benjamin Teitelbaum had been studying Traditionalism for years as a sort of novelty, associated with a restless subsection of the right - too antisocial for activism and largely without influence. And yet when Steve Bannon entered the White House in 2017, reports suggested he was an avid reader of Traditionalist teachings.
Through exclusive interviews and deep historical context, Teitelbaum reveals the radical worldview infusing the thinking of powerful actors and inspiring a renegade reinterpretation of humanity, geopolitics and history. Fast-paced and gripping, War for Eternity is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the Far Right's vision to change the world.
Since the early 20th century, Traditionalism has defined itself against modernity and Enlightenment values. Traditionalist thinkers such as René Guénon and Julius Evola celebrated hierarchy, denounced the idea of progress, and regarded liberal secularism, capitalism, and communism as aligned forces working to replace social, cultural and political norms. Ethnographer Benjamin Teitelbaum had been studying Traditionalism for years as a sort of novelty, associated with a restless subsection of the right - too antisocial for activism and largely without influence. And yet when Steve Bannon entered the White House in 2017, reports suggested he was an avid reader of Traditionalist teachings.
Through exclusive interviews and deep historical context, Teitelbaum reveals the radical worldview infusing the thinking of powerful actors and inspiring a renegade reinterpretation of humanity, geopolitics and history. Fast-paced and gripping, War for Eternity is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the Far Right's vision to change the world.
320 pages, Paperback
First published April 21, 2020
111 people are currently reading
1153 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin R. Teitelbaum
2 books33 followersBenjamin R. Teitelbaum is an ethnographer of contemporary radical nationalism in Europe, a performer of Scandinavian folk music, and Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Brown University, and has also studied at Harvard University, the Stockholm Royal College of Music, Bethany College, and the Eric Sahlström Institute. In addition to scholarship, his analysis and commentary on radical nationalism in Scandinavia has appeared in various print media and radio outlets in Sweden, Norway, and the United States, including Aftonbladet, (Norwegian) Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Swedish Radio Radio, Norwegian Radio, Foreign Policy, and the New York Times. As a musician, he specializes in Swedish folk music and Sweden's unofficial national instrument, the nyckelharpa. Having earned the first degree in nyckelharpa performance awarded outside Sweden, he tours nationally and internationally as a performer and teacher.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
July 4, 2020
The ideology of Traditionalism (capital-T) has existed on the margins of Western society since it was formulated just over a century ago. A response to the spiritual dislocations of secularism, Mark Sedgwick has described Traditionalism as an alternate intellectual history of modernity. By nature it's what you could call a fringe thing. It was surprising to see then that some Traditionalists who came out of the same circles created by ideologues and spiritual seekers like Rene Guenon, Julius Evola and Fritjof Schuon have actually played a role in high politics and continue to do so. Olavo de Carvalho, Aleksandr Dugin and even Steve Bannon are all Traditionalists or people who like to portray themselves as such. This entails a whole host of beliefs tied to the associated ideology of Perennialism – a belief that all religions contain within them pieces of a core spiritual truth that is vital to humanity. Another way of putting is that they're all very interested in metaphysics and consider them relevant to politics.
In theory these men all serve as Rasputin-like spiritual gurus to major political figures. They are attempting to inject spiritual considerations into a world that they believe has otherwise been reduced to pure quantification. This somewhat scrambles the Huntingtonian conception of global political alignments. Some figures on the European far-right valorize not just Russia but Iran and even Turkey,
viewing them as a spiritual bulwarks against the inhuman materialist forces of Chinese state communism and American liberalism. Traditionalists consider themselves rare: something like Jedis wielding secret knowledge necessary for mankind, but comprehensible only to the elect. Like anyone else they are vulnerable to the same errors and weaknesses of any person. I'm not really capable of evaluating de Carvalho and Dugin's political track records, but Bannon definitely has a growing list of failures behind him.
The author approaches the subject as an ethnographer rather than a journalist, which is refreshing. He presents the subject plainly and objectively which is a difficult thing to do given how intensely alien it will likely be to a lay-reader expecting standard political reporting. Having read a few of Mark Sedgwick's books on the subject and being familiar with the major figures, I was probably better prepared to read this than most. Even then, I had to contend with a few head-spinning passages that tried to unpack this labyrinth set of beliefs. I plan to speak with the author and potentially write something drawing on information in the book. It's a solid intellectual history.
In theory these men all serve as Rasputin-like spiritual gurus to major political figures. They are attempting to inject spiritual considerations into a world that they believe has otherwise been reduced to pure quantification. This somewhat scrambles the Huntingtonian conception of global political alignments. Some figures on the European far-right valorize not just Russia but Iran and even Turkey,
viewing them as a spiritual bulwarks against the inhuman materialist forces of Chinese state communism and American liberalism. Traditionalists consider themselves rare: something like Jedis wielding secret knowledge necessary for mankind, but comprehensible only to the elect. Like anyone else they are vulnerable to the same errors and weaknesses of any person. I'm not really capable of evaluating de Carvalho and Dugin's political track records, but Bannon definitely has a growing list of failures behind him.
The author approaches the subject as an ethnographer rather than a journalist, which is refreshing. He presents the subject plainly and objectively which is a difficult thing to do given how intensely alien it will likely be to a lay-reader expecting standard political reporting. Having read a few of Mark Sedgwick's books on the subject and being familiar with the major figures, I was probably better prepared to read this than most. Even then, I had to contend with a few head-spinning passages that tried to unpack this labyrinth set of beliefs. I plan to speak with the author and potentially write something drawing on information in the book. It's a solid intellectual history.
January 27, 2022
Olavo de Carvalho who, before his death from covid-19 on 24 January 2022 was a key ideologue behind Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, features prominently in this work as an astrologer, Traditionalist philosopher and important influence on the thought of Steve Bannon.
De Carvalho had described the coronavirus which was to bring about his early death as "...the moronovirus..." and said that it was “...nothing more than a little horror story designed to scare the population…”.
In addition to being a political thinker admired by Bannon, De Carvalho wrote about a range of other topics such as basic science, where he contested ideas of physicists Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, saying Newton introduced a self-contradictory thesis and spread the virus of "formidable stupidity” and that Einstein's theory of general relativity was plagiarized.
De Carvalho’s daughter responded to her father’s death with a tweet:
Don’t be like Olavo de Carvalho everyone.
Don't be a loon out of touch with reality; don't spend your precious life being permanently angry about leftists, vaccines and Isaac Newton before dying estranged by your family ahead of your time.
Also, don't be like Steve Bannon either.
A more detailed obituary can be read here.
De Carvalho had described the coronavirus which was to bring about his early death as "...the moronovirus..." and said that it was “...nothing more than a little horror story designed to scare the population…”.
In addition to being a political thinker admired by Bannon, De Carvalho wrote about a range of other topics such as basic science, where he contested ideas of physicists Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, saying Newton introduced a self-contradictory thesis and spread the virus of "formidable stupidity” and that Einstein's theory of general relativity was plagiarized.
De Carvalho’s daughter responded to her father’s death with a tweet:
“Que Deus perdoe ele de todas as maldades q cometeu”
- May God forgive him all the evil he has done,
Don’t be like Olavo de Carvalho everyone.
Don't be a loon out of touch with reality; don't spend your precious life being permanently angry about leftists, vaccines and Isaac Newton before dying estranged by your family ahead of your time.
Also, don't be like Steve Bannon either.
A more detailed obituary can be read here.
May 23, 2020
Excellent, immensely fascinating read overall. Despite the American cover (UK cover is much more accurate), the book covers a wide swath of contemporary political philosophical figures connected to Bannon—chiefly Aleksandr Dugin and Olavo de Carvalho, among other minor (but still important) figures, esp. power brokers and movers. It does excellent job of combining journalistic investigation and giving a satisfying summary of these figures' background and upbringing in the 20th cent. intellectual/political movement known as (capital-T) Traditionalism: from René Guénon to Julius Evola. While most. readers may broadly lean towards a liberalist viewpoint—in this respect, against the anti-individualism/anti-liberal views of Traditionalists—Teitelbaum does an excellent job of giving their side of the story, why one may be inclined toward that initial view, while giving a good, even-keeled balance and perspective in communicating both the philosophical narrative alongside the particular narratives of Bannon, Dugin, de Carvalho, and the other connected Traditionalist figures.
Must-read for anyone wanting to understand the overall global political climate at the moment—outside a largely biased stream of reporting on all these figures.
Must-read for anyone wanting to understand the overall global political climate at the moment—outside a largely biased stream of reporting on all these figures.
May 22, 2020
I'm absolutely exhausted with these credulous surveys of far-right flavor-of-the-day ideologies. At the best, this is a useful source for future work on eliminationist utopianism. As it is, this book is laughably inadequate for that goal, serving as four parts mouthpiece for Traditionalist talking points and one part base-level analysis (I can't really even call it criticism).
As for Traditionalism, it overwhelmingly seems to be a vehicle to facially distinguish one's anti-egalitarian ideals from baser tendencies therein, such as racism or antisemitism. It also only seems to go so far, since any expression of Traditionalism that isn't qualified six different ways from Sunday is indistinguishable from fascism. The details are worth noting, such as an accelerationist tendency that aims to leverage ethnonationalist movements to create strife and bring about the end of the "dark age", but it's like a hitchhiker expecting to take ownership of the car once the original driver reaches their destination. There's a romantic tone that Teitelbaum takes in discussing it which I would chalk up to morbid fascination, but that just doesn't cut it when discussing this material.
As for Traditionalism, it overwhelmingly seems to be a vehicle to facially distinguish one's anti-egalitarian ideals from baser tendencies therein, such as racism or antisemitism. It also only seems to go so far, since any expression of Traditionalism that isn't qualified six different ways from Sunday is indistinguishable from fascism. The details are worth noting, such as an accelerationist tendency that aims to leverage ethnonationalist movements to create strife and bring about the end of the "dark age", but it's like a hitchhiker expecting to take ownership of the car once the original driver reaches their destination. There's a romantic tone that Teitelbaum takes in discussing it which I would chalk up to morbid fascination, but that just doesn't cut it when discussing this material.
April 12, 2025
Lots of food for thought - review to come.
November 25, 2020
At their very core, they make sense: they believe in everyone having a unique identity and maintaining our culture and our roots. But there are a lot of confusing things and contraditions, like mixing religions, Islam being both bad and good, the nostalgia for some golden pre-modern society.
Some of the reading can fit right along with the liberal left, which makes it so fascinating that the end result is stuff like the Charlotte riots. The problem is that in practice, things get confused and it ends up sounding like no more than people saying whatever they need to in order to attain political power.
The author does a good job of summarizing it all in a few pages.
Some of the reading can fit right along with the liberal left, which makes it so fascinating that the end result is stuff like the Charlotte riots. The problem is that in practice, things get confused and it ends up sounding like no more than people saying whatever they need to in order to attain political power.
The author does a good job of summarizing it all in a few pages.
May 24, 2020
Packed with information, but also a bit jumpy at times. I also could have done with less details about the Trump administration, which will let the book seem dated very soon. This aside, this book is a formidable introduction to the concepts of Traditionalism and a great overview on current Traditionalist projects and thinkers form all over the world.
March 31, 2022
Excelente maneira de compreender o que está por trás de movimentos geopolíticos atuais.
July 23, 2020
WAR FOR ETERNITY, INSIDE BANNON'S FAR-RIGHT CIRCLE OF GLOBAL POWER BROKERS by Benjamin R. Teitelbaum.
I met Benjamin Teitelbaum a few years ago when he gave a presentation at the City Club of Boulder on music germane to far-right political ideas in Scandinavia. We sat in a small wood-paneled room on the lower level of the old school house that serves as home for the City Club, now an exclusive venue for some of Boulder's well-educated and well-connected citizenry. Ben gave a brief talk on the far-right leanings found in corners of Scandinavian culture and then introduced us to a musical instrument entirely foreign to me. It looked something like a dulcimer, something like an auto-harp, something like a viola, and something like the British code-breaker machine, the Enigma. He told his small audience that the instrument is a nyckelharpa, a Swedish instrument played with a bow. It turns out that Ben is quite accomplished on the instrument, and we certainly found the music both interesting and accomplished. It's also central to his interest in ethnomusicology, which is pretty much an academic niche focused, as one might deduce from the polysyllabic label, on culture and music. Ben is a professor in this branch of study at the University of Colorado's College of Music. He holds a Ph.D. from Brown University and studied also at the Royal College of Music and at Harvard. Before moving to the College of Music, he was head of Nordic Studies at CU. Most of his research focuses on contemporary radical nationalist, populist and neo-fascist movements. He's 37 years old, handsome, gregarious and approachable.
This sort of background isn't usually helpful to a brief book review, but in this case it seems essential, because his book is about weird stuff, at least to me a soup of occult, cultish, mystic, and ideological evangelism. Its followers think they have the key to a better future, which, highly ironically, will be like the quite-distant past. "Bannon," for those who have learned to stay away from the news because of its toxicity, is Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart, an alt-right or far-right or something-right news organization, and more recently a key player in the Administration of President 45. Teitelbaum's book dives deeply into a movement called "Traditionalism" with a capital "T", and Bannon, it turns out, was the insider viewed by a global network of like-minded men (yep, pretty much all men) to be the guy who could whisper "Traditionalism" in the president's ear. Such influence, it was hoped, would put 45 in a camp with Bolsonaro of Brazil and Putin of Russia, preeminent authoritarian and wanna-be authoritarian leaders.
Books like this come along from time to time, loaded with "insider" information to which only the author is privy. In this regard, Teitelbaum's book is unusual because he has or had close and repetitive contact with Bannon, including a validation from that he had correctly quoted and/or characterized Bannon's ideas. On the dust jacket of the hard-bound copy I read is a photo of the author at a dinner with Bannon, Bolsonaro adviser and philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, and a speechwriter for 45, all with heads down as they recite the Lord's Prayer. The point of the photo and its caption is to illustrate the closeness the author had to this group of advisers to the current lineup of authoritarian leaders.
One key figure in the book is missing from the photo. His name is Aleksandr Dugin, and he's a Russian with fascist ideas who has Putin's ear. Bannon worked with him in an attempt to align Putin and the U.S. against China. Why? Something like this: If globalism (modernism) can be stanched, what results is a collection of isolated nation states where true spirituality informs the culture. This would be a good development, you see, because mixing it up culturally and racially is very, very bad, in their ideology. I won't attempt to summarize the soup of ideas that results in the characters in this book wanting to redirect the world away from modern liberal ideas and back to authoritarian and racially distinct Traditional ideas. Such esoterica is a fool's errand for me; pondering the nuance of nonsense is like slicing garlic; there's more piquancy but you still have garlic. What is interesting, nay, frightening, is that we have as president of the United States a man who is or has been under the influence of advocates of authoritarianism and people who don't want immigrants because they dilute the purity of "our" culture. No surprise actually; we know 45 got his offensive ideas somewhere, but probably not from reading.
As for Teitelbaum's writing, it's good. He's an academic, not a journalist, but the book isn't for academics alone. It moves quickly and logically, is laced with intrigue, and accomplishes its goal, which is to shed light on corners of conspiracies that can be earthshaking, startling to Americans, and threatening to democracy. It's 278 pages long and will have you turning them quickly, like an airport thriller. Only this time, it's all true. If you didn't already know it, Teitelbaum's book informs how we've gotten into a very weird place.
FYI reference interview: https://www.cpr.org/show-segment/what...
I met Benjamin Teitelbaum a few years ago when he gave a presentation at the City Club of Boulder on music germane to far-right political ideas in Scandinavia. We sat in a small wood-paneled room on the lower level of the old school house that serves as home for the City Club, now an exclusive venue for some of Boulder's well-educated and well-connected citizenry. Ben gave a brief talk on the far-right leanings found in corners of Scandinavian culture and then introduced us to a musical instrument entirely foreign to me. It looked something like a dulcimer, something like an auto-harp, something like a viola, and something like the British code-breaker machine, the Enigma. He told his small audience that the instrument is a nyckelharpa, a Swedish instrument played with a bow. It turns out that Ben is quite accomplished on the instrument, and we certainly found the music both interesting and accomplished. It's also central to his interest in ethnomusicology, which is pretty much an academic niche focused, as one might deduce from the polysyllabic label, on culture and music. Ben is a professor in this branch of study at the University of Colorado's College of Music. He holds a Ph.D. from Brown University and studied also at the Royal College of Music and at Harvard. Before moving to the College of Music, he was head of Nordic Studies at CU. Most of his research focuses on contemporary radical nationalist, populist and neo-fascist movements. He's 37 years old, handsome, gregarious and approachable.
This sort of background isn't usually helpful to a brief book review, but in this case it seems essential, because his book is about weird stuff, at least to me a soup of occult, cultish, mystic, and ideological evangelism. Its followers think they have the key to a better future, which, highly ironically, will be like the quite-distant past. "Bannon," for those who have learned to stay away from the news because of its toxicity, is Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart, an alt-right or far-right or something-right news organization, and more recently a key player in the Administration of President 45. Teitelbaum's book dives deeply into a movement called "Traditionalism" with a capital "T", and Bannon, it turns out, was the insider viewed by a global network of like-minded men (yep, pretty much all men) to be the guy who could whisper "Traditionalism" in the president's ear. Such influence, it was hoped, would put 45 in a camp with Bolsonaro of Brazil and Putin of Russia, preeminent authoritarian and wanna-be authoritarian leaders.
Books like this come along from time to time, loaded with "insider" information to which only the author is privy. In this regard, Teitelbaum's book is unusual because he has or had close and repetitive contact with Bannon, including a validation from that he had correctly quoted and/or characterized Bannon's ideas. On the dust jacket of the hard-bound copy I read is a photo of the author at a dinner with Bannon, Bolsonaro adviser and philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, and a speechwriter for 45, all with heads down as they recite the Lord's Prayer. The point of the photo and its caption is to illustrate the closeness the author had to this group of advisers to the current lineup of authoritarian leaders.
One key figure in the book is missing from the photo. His name is Aleksandr Dugin, and he's a Russian with fascist ideas who has Putin's ear. Bannon worked with him in an attempt to align Putin and the U.S. against China. Why? Something like this: If globalism (modernism) can be stanched, what results is a collection of isolated nation states where true spirituality informs the culture. This would be a good development, you see, because mixing it up culturally and racially is very, very bad, in their ideology. I won't attempt to summarize the soup of ideas that results in the characters in this book wanting to redirect the world away from modern liberal ideas and back to authoritarian and racially distinct Traditional ideas. Such esoterica is a fool's errand for me; pondering the nuance of nonsense is like slicing garlic; there's more piquancy but you still have garlic. What is interesting, nay, frightening, is that we have as president of the United States a man who is or has been under the influence of advocates of authoritarianism and people who don't want immigrants because they dilute the purity of "our" culture. No surprise actually; we know 45 got his offensive ideas somewhere, but probably not from reading.
As for Teitelbaum's writing, it's good. He's an academic, not a journalist, but the book isn't for academics alone. It moves quickly and logically, is laced with intrigue, and accomplishes its goal, which is to shed light on corners of conspiracies that can be earthshaking, startling to Americans, and threatening to democracy. It's 278 pages long and will have you turning them quickly, like an airport thriller. Only this time, it's all true. If you didn't already know it, Teitelbaum's book informs how we've gotten into a very weird place.
FYI reference interview: https://www.cpr.org/show-segment/what...
June 22, 2024
What a fascinating book! It is about so much more then Steve Bannon even though he is the main focus of the book there are interviews and large sections focused on Aleksander Dughin and Olavo de Carvalho.
Ben Teitelbaum is a music ethnologist that ended up researching the far right and most importantly Traditionalism. This philosophy posits that major world religions are founded upon common primordial and universal metaphysical truths.
Rene Guenon was one of the fathers of traditionalism, he was born in France but he eventually migrated to Egypt and converted to Islam and was inducted into islamic esotericism. Julius Evola was also another foundational traditionalist, he was an Italian philosopher that worked for Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany and wrote on mysticism, esoterism, orientalism. All Traditionalist writers were anti-democratic, anti-liberal and advocated a return to traditional ways of living, spiritualism and rejected modernism, secularism and the modern way of living.
Steve Bannon was in the US navy based in Asia where he read Eastern philosophy and discovered traditionalism. He then worked in investment banking in Goldman Sachs where he made a fortune and then used his money and connections to start his political lobbying career. He controlled Breitbart media and rose to become part of the Trump administration but was removed after disagreements with people such as Ivanka Trump and Jarred Kushner. He believed Trump should remove the US from the international system and was disappointed with Trump's continued interventionist policies in places such as Syria and his globalist policies. He views Russia as a natural ally of the US and China as the main adversary.
Aleksandr Dughin is a Russian philosopher and professor that drew inspiration from traditionalism and created the euroasianist movement. He started off with his National Bolshevik party and promoted Russian imperialism, expansionism, anti-americanism, anti-globalism and anti-western policies. He served in the Russian army and acted as an unofficial diplomat promoting Russian policies and alliances in countries such as Turkey and China. He participated in the Russian invasions of Georgia and Ukraine. The goal of his policies are the defeat of the US and the creation of a multipolar world.
Olavo de Carvalho is a Brazilian former journalist, astrologer, conspiracy theorist and self-style philosopher that became a major influence and adviser of the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. He promoted traditionalism but he believed that the main force or globalism is China not the US. As such he advocated for a breaking of Brazil from China and BRICS and an alliance with the US. He famously debated and argued against Dughin's anti-americanism.
The book discusses the interaction of all these traditionalist thinkers and their influence on world politics. It is jam packed with so much interesting and lesser known information. One of the best non-fiction books I've read this year.
Ben Teitelbaum is a music ethnologist that ended up researching the far right and most importantly Traditionalism. This philosophy posits that major world religions are founded upon common primordial and universal metaphysical truths.
Rene Guenon was one of the fathers of traditionalism, he was born in France but he eventually migrated to Egypt and converted to Islam and was inducted into islamic esotericism. Julius Evola was also another foundational traditionalist, he was an Italian philosopher that worked for Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany and wrote on mysticism, esoterism, orientalism. All Traditionalist writers were anti-democratic, anti-liberal and advocated a return to traditional ways of living, spiritualism and rejected modernism, secularism and the modern way of living.
Steve Bannon was in the US navy based in Asia where he read Eastern philosophy and discovered traditionalism. He then worked in investment banking in Goldman Sachs where he made a fortune and then used his money and connections to start his political lobbying career. He controlled Breitbart media and rose to become part of the Trump administration but was removed after disagreements with people such as Ivanka Trump and Jarred Kushner. He believed Trump should remove the US from the international system and was disappointed with Trump's continued interventionist policies in places such as Syria and his globalist policies. He views Russia as a natural ally of the US and China as the main adversary.
Aleksandr Dughin is a Russian philosopher and professor that drew inspiration from traditionalism and created the euroasianist movement. He started off with his National Bolshevik party and promoted Russian imperialism, expansionism, anti-americanism, anti-globalism and anti-western policies. He served in the Russian army and acted as an unofficial diplomat promoting Russian policies and alliances in countries such as Turkey and China. He participated in the Russian invasions of Georgia and Ukraine. The goal of his policies are the defeat of the US and the creation of a multipolar world.
Olavo de Carvalho is a Brazilian former journalist, astrologer, conspiracy theorist and self-style philosopher that became a major influence and adviser of the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. He promoted traditionalism but he believed that the main force or globalism is China not the US. As such he advocated for a breaking of Brazil from China and BRICS and an alliance with the US. He famously debated and argued against Dughin's anti-americanism.
The book discusses the interaction of all these traditionalist thinkers and their influence on world politics. It is jam packed with so much interesting and lesser known information. One of the best non-fiction books I've read this year.
March 14, 2025
Gav me a new perspective on the rise of a fringe movement into the centers of power. This book chronicles the rise of the far right circles in the US, Russia and Brazil. It is written by a ethnoographer with a keen interest and understanding of the esoteric philosophy of the far right. Steven Banon, Aleksandr Dugin and Olavo de Carvalho lead these movements in their respect countries. I was thought it was interesting how Dugin had effectively created much of the rhetoric which is today used by the Kremlin (i.e. work with Iran, China and North Korea instead of the decadent West, use disinformation to destabilize your opponents etc). I also thought Steven Bannon to be an interesting study; a person who came from the working class but rose through the educational system to positions of power while privately searching for some ultimate meaning. I could relate to Bannons spiritual quest although I do not think he managed at all to understand the true insights provided by the eastern religions. It could be because zen meditation (which he apparently does on a daily basis) is notorious for being stripped away from any sort of moral guidance.
It seemed as though these three individuals saw the need to invigorate their respective cultures by turning to various religions, especially religions from the east. I had a hard time seeing the connection between various insights gotten through meditation and how a society should be organized. I found that the views which these three individuals espouse often seem weird, eccentric and very esoteric. Often their views of how cultures develop is found in some return to a cyclic way of viewing the world rather than a linear approach which most Westerners have. The most interesting fact about the book is how these views have affected Trump and Putin. I am still uncertain as to to what extent Trump is influenced by them.
All in all worth reading to learn more about the new political direction the world seems to be taking.
It seemed as though these three individuals saw the need to invigorate their respective cultures by turning to various religions, especially religions from the east. I had a hard time seeing the connection between various insights gotten through meditation and how a society should be organized. I found that the views which these three individuals espouse often seem weird, eccentric and very esoteric. Often their views of how cultures develop is found in some return to a cyclic way of viewing the world rather than a linear approach which most Westerners have. The most interesting fact about the book is how these views have affected Trump and Putin. I am still uncertain as to to what extent Trump is influenced by them.
All in all worth reading to learn more about the new political direction the world seems to be taking.
July 11, 2020
One of the interesting things about the publishing world is the division in the English-speaking/reading world between Great Britain and the United States, where different titles and different publishers are associated with the same text. Usually British titles head for Australia and I think this is a long-standing arrangement.
Publishers have their own interpretations of the contents of a book, which can result in different tiles and cover designs, which provoke differett interpretations.
For example, not long ago, I reviewed a book by Merve Emre called What's Your Type? about the origins Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which appears in the US as The Personality Brokers. For me, a student and researcher of this topic the latter title is inaccurate and misleading, but maybe "broker" appeals to particular people.
This book also appears under a subtitle of "Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Powerbrokers" which also strikes me as misleading: although Steve Bannon is featured throughout this book, he's not the only person under examination, and "Powerbrokers" seems a little too sensationalised, although that's not to deny the people discussed a high level of influence in certain quarters.
Naturally, Bannon's profile fills the cover of this text, whereas the book under review includes him with three other significant people relating to Benjamin Teitelbaum's theme of Traditionalism, which really subsumes all the characters within. If you want to see the cover on Goodreads, then the ebook displays it.
Teitelbaum is an ethnographer who, somewhat curiously, specialises in music, and so the text is an ethnographic document and journal, so there are lots of reports on interviews with people like Bannon who appear connected in various ways, either personally or throuh ideas.
The core idea is "Traditionalism" – an anti-modern, anti-democratic view, infused with a particular idea of spirituality. In recounting Steve Bannon's early life, Teitelbaum refers to forays into what are called "mystical" bookshops in various ports of call for Bannon the naval officer. The points of view, or ideologies appear to swim around Theosophical perspectives (Blavatsky's "The Secret Doctrine" is mentioned) but more particularly Rene Guenon; Geotge Gurdjieff and Julius Evola are mentioned, the latter I'd never heard of, and the others no more than names referred to on occasion.
A theme is the superiority of the Aryan race (nor all definitions are the same) and the idea of time as a kind of circle or cycle of creation/destruction, the current age being the Kali Yuga, I'd been aware of these ideas before, decades ago, and was a bit startled to see them taken as seriously as the group of people described here appear to do, however idiosyncratically and inconsistently (Bannon is consistently evasive). Maybe I'm too modernist.
The esoteric or spiritual groups encountered or mentioned here appear a little syncretistic, or even Western influenced, but then I'm basing that on studies that are decades old, now. But I wondered whether there was an element of self-delusion about what these ideas and practices entailed, apart from the obvious racial connotations.
An important part of the information here is the association between various movements and some political leaders, whether knowingly or unknowingly, to bring about changes in societies around the world, although for anti-globalist reasons.
This isn't the easiest text to read, partly because of its ethnographic nature and the incessant chasing of leads and appointments. In some respects the author tidies it up a bit with a final chapter where he provides a neat summary.
Nonetheless, this was interesting and a reminder that people can do the same things for different reasons, and that finding out those reasons, or presuppositions can be important.
Publishers have their own interpretations of the contents of a book, which can result in different tiles and cover designs, which provoke differett interpretations.
For example, not long ago, I reviewed a book by Merve Emre called What's Your Type? about the origins Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which appears in the US as The Personality Brokers. For me, a student and researcher of this topic the latter title is inaccurate and misleading, but maybe "broker" appeals to particular people.
This book also appears under a subtitle of "Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Powerbrokers" which also strikes me as misleading: although Steve Bannon is featured throughout this book, he's not the only person under examination, and "Powerbrokers" seems a little too sensationalised, although that's not to deny the people discussed a high level of influence in certain quarters.
Naturally, Bannon's profile fills the cover of this text, whereas the book under review includes him with three other significant people relating to Benjamin Teitelbaum's theme of Traditionalism, which really subsumes all the characters within. If you want to see the cover on Goodreads, then the ebook displays it.
Teitelbaum is an ethnographer who, somewhat curiously, specialises in music, and so the text is an ethnographic document and journal, so there are lots of reports on interviews with people like Bannon who appear connected in various ways, either personally or throuh ideas.
The core idea is "Traditionalism" – an anti-modern, anti-democratic view, infused with a particular idea of spirituality. In recounting Steve Bannon's early life, Teitelbaum refers to forays into what are called "mystical" bookshops in various ports of call for Bannon the naval officer. The points of view, or ideologies appear to swim around Theosophical perspectives (Blavatsky's "The Secret Doctrine" is mentioned) but more particularly Rene Guenon; Geotge Gurdjieff and Julius Evola are mentioned, the latter I'd never heard of, and the others no more than names referred to on occasion.
A theme is the superiority of the Aryan race (nor all definitions are the same) and the idea of time as a kind of circle or cycle of creation/destruction, the current age being the Kali Yuga, I'd been aware of these ideas before, decades ago, and was a bit startled to see them taken as seriously as the group of people described here appear to do, however idiosyncratically and inconsistently (Bannon is consistently evasive). Maybe I'm too modernist.
The esoteric or spiritual groups encountered or mentioned here appear a little syncretistic, or even Western influenced, but then I'm basing that on studies that are decades old, now. But I wondered whether there was an element of self-delusion about what these ideas and practices entailed, apart from the obvious racial connotations.
An important part of the information here is the association between various movements and some political leaders, whether knowingly or unknowingly, to bring about changes in societies around the world, although for anti-globalist reasons.
This isn't the easiest text to read, partly because of its ethnographic nature and the incessant chasing of leads and appointments. In some respects the author tidies it up a bit with a final chapter where he provides a neat summary.
Nonetheless, this was interesting and a reminder that people can do the same things for different reasons, and that finding out those reasons, or presuppositions can be important.
July 31, 2024
This is a gratifying read that balances high drama with dense exploration of ideology. Written by a political ethnographer, War for Eternity threads this uneasy line between being rigorous enough to make a mark academically, as well as accessible enough to be successful on the mass market. The controversy surrounding the subject guaranteed the latter, yet the tension between journalistic and academic sensibilities threatened to undermine the former.
This review will address three questions: (i) is there a need for this book (written in this way)?; (ii) is Teitelbaum the right person to do it?; (iii) and does it work as a narrative?
The first is the easiest to answer. When this book was published, these Traditionalist figures were all steps away from power. Dugin was (and perhaps still is) the ballast to Putin’s geopolitical fantasies; Bannon was temporarily part of Trump’s inner circle but never seemed to have left his circles completely, which explains the last-minute pardon he got; and Carvalho was so much Bolsanaro’s Guru that when he died in 2022, the Brazilian flag was flown half-staffed. In other words, Traditionalism, which I won’t define here, is very close to far-right power (and its ascent), yet it is often recognised as the form without the capital ‘T’. To remedy these omissions, this book has to be written.
Can the self-identified ethnomusicologist and political ethnographer Benjamin Teitelbaum deliver this? I would say yes, too. Teitelbaum not only has the contacts that gave him insider access (this is unfairly simplifying it; in interviews, he mentioned he had to work these figures for months, if not years), but he also has the knowledge to unpack Traditionalism’s many genealogies and branches. Arguably, it is its illustration of the branching and esotericism of Traditionalism that made this book most fascinating, as they shed light on Dugin, Bannon, and Carvalho as pretty much lone wolves of a global movement. These men wanted to be understood, yet not so much that the internal inconsistencies and, frankly, at times baffling, mysticism of their ideologies threatened the purported unity of a movement they always saw as global.
Teitelbaum’s work on the Swedish far-right apparently equipped him well to be an astute reader of these ideologies; his ethnographic method gave him a way to read these characters humanly. The scene where Dugin was speaking to a room of white nationalists in Stolkhom who were too drunk to listen speaks very much to this cocktail of brainy intellectualism and corporeal dramedies that has long animated human politics. A less-discerning writer might have found the sensationalism they look for in this scene, but under Teitelbaum's pen, the comical is merely part of a meta-observation of this thing Bannon calls "metapolitics". An understanding of politics as streaming downstream from culture meant metapolitics is itself beaming with cultural observations.
I had the concern that Teitelbaum might end up overindulging in what he provocatively called “immoral anthropology” in a paper, whereby his “friendship” (in his own terms) with these problematic figures would cloud his ethical and moral responsibilities. That, he may get too close to be an accomplice, knowingly or unknowingly. Lurking in the question is also his identity as a white heterosexual male American that gave him the luxury to be “immoral”, or rather “amoral”, given that these figures’ politics aren’t targeting him per se. Whereas Teitelbaum’s methodological reflections in the paper (Teitelbaum 2019) are quite unsettling for myself as a minority studying majoritarian far-right politics, I don’t find this book to be immoral or amoral at all.
Even if the book does not see itself having to play the part of a critic (and I am fine with that), it isn’t uncritical. Teitelbaum chased down leads whenever he could, which resulted in many of the figures he covered ending up looking feckless instead of playing the part of some mastermind. He drew neo-Nazi connections whenever there were. His starting point isn’t that we should like these people, or that human complexities signify moral goodness. He presumes we know these developments aren’t healthy, but how bad? That’s a question he chose not to answer but instead left us with the materials to decide. Are the Traditionalists the worst of the bunch? I am not sure; I have seen worse in my research. Could they bring the worst out of us? That’s harder to decide.
The last question: does this book work in a narrative sense? This is where I find the book to be weakest. It opens with the ‘legendary’ Dugin-Bannon meet-up, but that line was interspersed with a lot of time and location jumps. The jumps don’t quite come together as a Bond film would because those films have Bond in the middle of it. Teitelbaum can’t seem to decide if Bannon is to be the Bond (or Bond villain) in his narrative, and the story frayed in unproductive ways. There appears to be a good arc that can be strung through the trifecta of Dugin, Bannon, and Carvalho, but that wasn’t pursued as coherently, or as systematically, as my perhaps academic sensibilities would like. The narrative was often side-tracked by side characters and plots with little pay-offs (like the Jellyfish arc).
Probably for reasons of timeliness, the book was seemingly rushed to production (something the author kinda admitted in the acknowledgements). However, that process appears to have deterred the harnessing of Teitelbaum’s academic as well as journalistic potential. The book often reads like a compilation of very intimate and revealing field notes, but is short of the kind of narrative punch that makes for a good journalistic account, or the analytical systematicity that typically accompanies an academic piece. Structurally, having a list of the dramatis personae somewhere might help.
All said and done, this is a timely book about men who fashion themselves as above, if not against, time. Guided by the “belief that the world is about to change, and therefore bold measures are justified” (p. 281), they do capture the spirit of our times, where change is both imminent and desired. The difficult question for progressives is this: is our priority about taming the optimism behind these energies, i.e., to strangle the belief that a ‘golden age’ will come from ‘time’ moving backwards and that society should/can finally pretend that feminism never happened as many in the right would like? Or is it to address the widespread pessimism in our material and spiritual futures that led to this exodus to the extremes?
This review will address three questions: (i) is there a need for this book (written in this way)?; (ii) is Teitelbaum the right person to do it?; (iii) and does it work as a narrative?
The first is the easiest to answer. When this book was published, these Traditionalist figures were all steps away from power. Dugin was (and perhaps still is) the ballast to Putin’s geopolitical fantasies; Bannon was temporarily part of Trump’s inner circle but never seemed to have left his circles completely, which explains the last-minute pardon he got; and Carvalho was so much Bolsanaro’s Guru that when he died in 2022, the Brazilian flag was flown half-staffed. In other words, Traditionalism, which I won’t define here, is very close to far-right power (and its ascent), yet it is often recognised as the form without the capital ‘T’. To remedy these omissions, this book has to be written.
Can the self-identified ethnomusicologist and political ethnographer Benjamin Teitelbaum deliver this? I would say yes, too. Teitelbaum not only has the contacts that gave him insider access (this is unfairly simplifying it; in interviews, he mentioned he had to work these figures for months, if not years), but he also has the knowledge to unpack Traditionalism’s many genealogies and branches. Arguably, it is its illustration of the branching and esotericism of Traditionalism that made this book most fascinating, as they shed light on Dugin, Bannon, and Carvalho as pretty much lone wolves of a global movement. These men wanted to be understood, yet not so much that the internal inconsistencies and, frankly, at times baffling, mysticism of their ideologies threatened the purported unity of a movement they always saw as global.
Teitelbaum’s work on the Swedish far-right apparently equipped him well to be an astute reader of these ideologies; his ethnographic method gave him a way to read these characters humanly. The scene where Dugin was speaking to a room of white nationalists in Stolkhom who were too drunk to listen speaks very much to this cocktail of brainy intellectualism and corporeal dramedies that has long animated human politics. A less-discerning writer might have found the sensationalism they look for in this scene, but under Teitelbaum's pen, the comical is merely part of a meta-observation of this thing Bannon calls "metapolitics". An understanding of politics as streaming downstream from culture meant metapolitics is itself beaming with cultural observations.
I had the concern that Teitelbaum might end up overindulging in what he provocatively called “immoral anthropology” in a paper, whereby his “friendship” (in his own terms) with these problematic figures would cloud his ethical and moral responsibilities. That, he may get too close to be an accomplice, knowingly or unknowingly. Lurking in the question is also his identity as a white heterosexual male American that gave him the luxury to be “immoral”, or rather “amoral”, given that these figures’ politics aren’t targeting him per se. Whereas Teitelbaum’s methodological reflections in the paper (Teitelbaum 2019) are quite unsettling for myself as a minority studying majoritarian far-right politics, I don’t find this book to be immoral or amoral at all.
Even if the book does not see itself having to play the part of a critic (and I am fine with that), it isn’t uncritical. Teitelbaum chased down leads whenever he could, which resulted in many of the figures he covered ending up looking feckless instead of playing the part of some mastermind. He drew neo-Nazi connections whenever there were. His starting point isn’t that we should like these people, or that human complexities signify moral goodness. He presumes we know these developments aren’t healthy, but how bad? That’s a question he chose not to answer but instead left us with the materials to decide. Are the Traditionalists the worst of the bunch? I am not sure; I have seen worse in my research. Could they bring the worst out of us? That’s harder to decide.
The last question: does this book work in a narrative sense? This is where I find the book to be weakest. It opens with the ‘legendary’ Dugin-Bannon meet-up, but that line was interspersed with a lot of time and location jumps. The jumps don’t quite come together as a Bond film would because those films have Bond in the middle of it. Teitelbaum can’t seem to decide if Bannon is to be the Bond (or Bond villain) in his narrative, and the story frayed in unproductive ways. There appears to be a good arc that can be strung through the trifecta of Dugin, Bannon, and Carvalho, but that wasn’t pursued as coherently, or as systematically, as my perhaps academic sensibilities would like. The narrative was often side-tracked by side characters and plots with little pay-offs (like the Jellyfish arc).
Probably for reasons of timeliness, the book was seemingly rushed to production (something the author kinda admitted in the acknowledgements). However, that process appears to have deterred the harnessing of Teitelbaum’s academic as well as journalistic potential. The book often reads like a compilation of very intimate and revealing field notes, but is short of the kind of narrative punch that makes for a good journalistic account, or the analytical systematicity that typically accompanies an academic piece. Structurally, having a list of the dramatis personae somewhere might help.
All said and done, this is a timely book about men who fashion themselves as above, if not against, time. Guided by the “belief that the world is about to change, and therefore bold measures are justified” (p. 281), they do capture the spirit of our times, where change is both imminent and desired. The difficult question for progressives is this: is our priority about taming the optimism behind these energies, i.e., to strangle the belief that a ‘golden age’ will come from ‘time’ moving backwards and that society should/can finally pretend that feminism never happened as many in the right would like? Or is it to address the widespread pessimism in our material and spiritual futures that led to this exodus to the extremes?
June 26, 2020
I'd never heard of Traditionalists before, they seem a bit wacko in some aspects but I find it quite interesting to read about other ways of thinking. Some quite counter intuitive thinking and rationales, say with separation of child migrants at the border. This book certainly adds additional colour to some recent crazy world events and it was interesting to see how the various players from around the globe interacted and played a role.
I'm a pretty die hard athiest and would discribe myself as a libertarian but I felt some empathy with some of the traditionalists thinking. The world is amazing these days but it still feels like we've lost something important as culture and spirituality have started playing less of a role in society. Loss of community for one as we are less focused around religion and things such as ever greater commoditisation of people through globalisation.
Full of intrigue and a quick read.
I'm a pretty die hard athiest and would discribe myself as a libertarian but I felt some empathy with some of the traditionalists thinking. The world is amazing these days but it still feels like we've lost something important as culture and spirituality have started playing less of a role in society. Loss of community for one as we are less focused around religion and things such as ever greater commoditisation of people through globalisation.
Full of intrigue and a quick read.
June 28, 2020
Wow. I loved this book. As interesting and mysterious as it is frightening and serious. Feels like something from a classic X Files episode, layered over real life. A small group of spiritual-political philosophers having an outsized impact on the world.
I've seen some reviews complain about Teitelbaum's neutrality of tone. But this really helps the credibility of the book. He doesn't spend any time trying to preach to you what you should think about these people. He simply says, this is what I saw, the connections and the influence. The arguments and the ideas. He explains their ideas in good faith, using their own terms and allows the reader to make up their own mind.
I've seen some reviews complain about Teitelbaum's neutrality of tone. But this really helps the credibility of the book. He doesn't spend any time trying to preach to you what you should think about these people. He simply says, this is what I saw, the connections and the influence. The arguments and the ideas. He explains their ideas in good faith, using their own terms and allows the reader to make up their own mind.
April 4, 2022
Made me really like Steve Bannon. Not sure that’s what the author was going for. Nothing Bannon says in this book suggests he aligns with fascists, only that some fascists also incorporated Traditionalist thought. They also probably enjoyed beer and used toilet paper. He actually rejects racial politics explicitly in this book and he is a practicing Catholic. If anything, Traditionalism as associated with Bannon, sounds like a better start than atheist materialism.
April 25, 2022
Benjamin R. Teitelbaum investiga em "Guerra pela Eternidade" as ligações que se estabelecem entre os gurus do autoritarismo da nova extrema direita mundial. Ele chega à conclusão que Olavo de Carvalho, guru do Jair Messias Bolsonaro, Steve Bannon, ex-guru de Donald Trump e Aleksandr Dugin, guru de Vladimir Putin, têm em comum se basearem na doutrina do Tradicionalismo. Essa doutrina não é o que você deve estar pensando e não é simples de explicar em poucas palavras. Um belo trabalho de Teitelbaum, contudo, a forma como o escritor cerziu o livro baseado nesta sua pesquisa foi o que cansou, e me fez remar por dias e dias no livro, sem contar com o tempo em que ficou pegando pó na estante depois de ter começado sua leitura. Teitelbaum se usa do estilo de reportagem do "New Journalism" que busca mesclar informações verdeiras com um estilo romanceado de trazer elas à tona. Eu não gosto nem um pouco deste estilo, mas há quem curta. Esse ponto, para mim, deixou o livro muito mais enrolado do que deveria ser e, por isso, chato.
August 2, 2022
Benjamin Teitelbaum's book on Stephen Bannon is based on his extensive knowledge of and contacts within the extreme right (that is, the dangerous, white nationalist, fascist, neo-nazi milieu), and on his many interviews with Bannon over a period of about 2 years.
He himself is not a right-wing extremist. He is an ethnomusicologist who began his professional work investigating racist and extreme right-wing rock music in Sweden.
Bannon is follower and thinker in the area of Traditionalism, a philosophy that opposes modernity, materialism, progress, liberal democracy, women's rights, and equality; it values what it would describe as the pre-modern, authority, hierarchy, spiritual values, and a multipolar world (i.e., one without superpowers) made up of smaller units of culturally homogeneous peoples (and they would love borders, even border walls, between these units). They adopt a Hindu idea of a repeating cycle of periods in human history, which consist of succeeding periods of dominance by priests, then warriors (both "spiritual periods"), then periods of dominance by merchants, and finally slaves (both "materialist" periods). Each step from priest downward is a decline; the age of slaves is concurrent with the Kali Yuga, a period that ends with the destruction of earth, or something, and is succeeded somehow by a new superior age of priests etc.
Are Traditionalists racists? The author notes that "While it is true that even avid followers of Julius Evola [an inspirer of Traditionalism] have found ways to excise the Italian thinker's views on race, it also is no accident that when Traditionalism has made inroads into politics, it has almost always done so in or near the company of race ideologues and anti-Semites."
Traditionalism derives from the thought of Rene Guenon (1886-1951), a prolific writer on what is called "metaphysics," or what some might call esoteric philosophy and religion, and a convert to Islam, and Julius Evola (1898-1974), an Italian esotericist and extreme right-wing writer well-known to right wing extremists today as a fascist among fascists (though, please note, he was not popular to the fascist organization and government of Mussolini) . . .
As is by now clear, it should be clear that attempting to summarize these characters' work and Traditionalism is not likely to succeed, though I might attempt to summarize it mathematically this way: Traditionalism = (extreme right-wing values) + ("spirituality") + (hatred of modernity) +/- (racism).
Traditionalism is not necessarily a coherent philosophy, at least to outsiders, and one can find disagreement between Traditionalists on practical matters. Alexander Dugin, who sometimes makes suggestions to Putin and has carried on informal diplomacy for Russia, has actively worked for a Russia-China alliance opposed to the US. Bannon would prefer closer US-Russia cooperation opposed to China.
The most important take-away, if you will, from this book is that followers of this bizarre political philosophy have lately spent time in loci of political power: Bannon, of course, spent time in the Trump White House, supporting D. T.'s plan for a border wall and severely restricting immigration, Durgin has acted in support of Russian policy and occasionally suggested it, and in Brazil one Olavo da Carvalho has advised and been a promoter their President Bolsonaro.
By the way, do you remember Cambridge Analytica? Bannon helped create it as a US-subsidiary of a British data mining concern, with $20 million of backing from right-wing Americans.
We certainly would be justified in opposing the entry of Traditionalists into government.
The author traces the progress of Steve Bannon and company over a few years during the D.T. administration and after. The intrigues involved are rather complex; just like the philosophy of Traditionalism, they can involve the bizarre. He succeeds in creating a vivid portrait of Bannon (and somehow, I could not help imagining the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the actor who could best portray Bannon, if Hoffman were not dead).
My advice, regarding Bannon and Traditionalists: Avoid these people.
More advice: You may very find that, as you get to know better whatever experts in esotericism and occultism you meet, you will find that they lean very strongly to the Right.
He himself is not a right-wing extremist. He is an ethnomusicologist who began his professional work investigating racist and extreme right-wing rock music in Sweden.
Bannon is follower and thinker in the area of Traditionalism, a philosophy that opposes modernity, materialism, progress, liberal democracy, women's rights, and equality; it values what it would describe as the pre-modern, authority, hierarchy, spiritual values, and a multipolar world (i.e., one without superpowers) made up of smaller units of culturally homogeneous peoples (and they would love borders, even border walls, between these units). They adopt a Hindu idea of a repeating cycle of periods in human history, which consist of succeeding periods of dominance by priests, then warriors (both "spiritual periods"), then periods of dominance by merchants, and finally slaves (both "materialist" periods). Each step from priest downward is a decline; the age of slaves is concurrent with the Kali Yuga, a period that ends with the destruction of earth, or something, and is succeeded somehow by a new superior age of priests etc.
Are Traditionalists racists? The author notes that "While it is true that even avid followers of Julius Evola [an inspirer of Traditionalism] have found ways to excise the Italian thinker's views on race, it also is no accident that when Traditionalism has made inroads into politics, it has almost always done so in or near the company of race ideologues and anti-Semites."
Traditionalism derives from the thought of Rene Guenon (1886-1951), a prolific writer on what is called "metaphysics," or what some might call esoteric philosophy and religion, and a convert to Islam, and Julius Evola (1898-1974), an Italian esotericist and extreme right-wing writer well-known to right wing extremists today as a fascist among fascists (though, please note, he was not popular to the fascist organization and government of Mussolini) . . .
As is by now clear, it should be clear that attempting to summarize these characters' work and Traditionalism is not likely to succeed, though I might attempt to summarize it mathematically this way: Traditionalism = (extreme right-wing values) + ("spirituality") + (hatred of modernity) +/- (racism).
Traditionalism is not necessarily a coherent philosophy, at least to outsiders, and one can find disagreement between Traditionalists on practical matters. Alexander Dugin, who sometimes makes suggestions to Putin and has carried on informal diplomacy for Russia, has actively worked for a Russia-China alliance opposed to the US. Bannon would prefer closer US-Russia cooperation opposed to China.
The most important take-away, if you will, from this book is that followers of this bizarre political philosophy have lately spent time in loci of political power: Bannon, of course, spent time in the Trump White House, supporting D. T.'s plan for a border wall and severely restricting immigration, Durgin has acted in support of Russian policy and occasionally suggested it, and in Brazil one Olavo da Carvalho has advised and been a promoter their President Bolsonaro.
By the way, do you remember Cambridge Analytica? Bannon helped create it as a US-subsidiary of a British data mining concern, with $20 million of backing from right-wing Americans.
We certainly would be justified in opposing the entry of Traditionalists into government.
The author traces the progress of Steve Bannon and company over a few years during the D.T. administration and after. The intrigues involved are rather complex; just like the philosophy of Traditionalism, they can involve the bizarre. He succeeds in creating a vivid portrait of Bannon (and somehow, I could not help imagining the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the actor who could best portray Bannon, if Hoffman were not dead).
My advice, regarding Bannon and Traditionalists: Avoid these people.
More advice: You may very find that, as you get to know better whatever experts in esotericism and occultism you meet, you will find that they lean very strongly to the Right.
January 3, 2021
Traditionalism Overview
Review of the Dey Street Books hardcover edition (April, 2020)
Although it is more about the international Traditionalist movement, I read War for Eternity as background to my ongoing reading survey of various books in relation to the 2020 American Election. As a Canadian, I’ve generally ignored American politics and elections in past years, but the drama of the situation in 2020 has heightened my interest. I was led to War for Eternity after reading about Bannon's interest in Traditionalism in Devil's Bargain (2017).
Although this American edition from Dey Street Books touts Steve Bannon in its cover image and subtitle, the notorious final manager of Donald Trump's 2016 Election campaign actually plays a very small role in the proceedings. The UK edition from Allen Lane titled War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right (also April, 2020) is more honest in this regard. Most however would not recognize Aleksandr Dugin, Julius Evola and René Guénon (L. to R.) on the latter's cover unless they were already familiar with Traditionalism and its main exponents.
Although author Teitelbaum interviews Bannon at several times throughout the book there are actually very few revelations from him. Bannon is often very cagey and disingenuous with Teitelbaum and regularly denies that he knows or has interacted with many of the people whom the author mentions or is researching. One of the few exceptions is Olavo de Carvalho, who is considered the Traditionalist behind the throne of Brazil's current populist President Jair Bolsanaro. Carvalho actually lives in Virginia, USA and has met with Bannon at the latter's townhouse, the so-called "Breitbart Embassy," in Washington, D.C.
What is more alarming are the roots of the current Traditionalist movement in characters such as Guénon and Evola, particularly the latter's association with Italian Fascism during the Mussolini era. Even more alarming is the information about Dugin, who is the Traditionalist behind Russian President Vladimir Putin. I've even gone further down the rabbit-hole with reading James Heiser's overview of Dugin in "The American Empire Should Be Destroyed": Aleksandr Dugin and the Perils of Immanentized Eschatology* (2014) [reading in progress, review to come]. That is about as far afield as I want to go on this survey, which started with curiosity about the 2020 American Election only.
* Eric Voegelin referred to “immanentized eschatology” as "the moment when groups of men possessed by a gnostic ideology attempt to remake the world to conform to their fantasies".
Review of the Dey Street Books hardcover edition (April, 2020)
Although it is more about the international Traditionalist movement, I read War for Eternity as background to my ongoing reading survey of various books in relation to the 2020 American Election. As a Canadian, I’ve generally ignored American politics and elections in past years, but the drama of the situation in 2020 has heightened my interest. I was led to War for Eternity after reading about Bannon's interest in Traditionalism in Devil's Bargain (2017).
Although this American edition from Dey Street Books touts Steve Bannon in its cover image and subtitle, the notorious final manager of Donald Trump's 2016 Election campaign actually plays a very small role in the proceedings. The UK edition from Allen Lane titled War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right (also April, 2020) is more honest in this regard. Most however would not recognize Aleksandr Dugin, Julius Evola and René Guénon (L. to R.) on the latter's cover unless they were already familiar with Traditionalism and its main exponents.
Although author Teitelbaum interviews Bannon at several times throughout the book there are actually very few revelations from him. Bannon is often very cagey and disingenuous with Teitelbaum and regularly denies that he knows or has interacted with many of the people whom the author mentions or is researching. One of the few exceptions is Olavo de Carvalho, who is considered the Traditionalist behind the throne of Brazil's current populist President Jair Bolsanaro. Carvalho actually lives in Virginia, USA and has met with Bannon at the latter's townhouse, the so-called "Breitbart Embassy," in Washington, D.C.
What is more alarming are the roots of the current Traditionalist movement in characters such as Guénon and Evola, particularly the latter's association with Italian Fascism during the Mussolini era. Even more alarming is the information about Dugin, who is the Traditionalist behind Russian President Vladimir Putin. I've even gone further down the rabbit-hole with reading James Heiser's overview of Dugin in "The American Empire Should Be Destroyed": Aleksandr Dugin and the Perils of Immanentized Eschatology* (2014) [reading in progress, review to come]. That is about as far afield as I want to go on this survey, which started with curiosity about the 2020 American Election only.
* Eric Voegelin referred to “immanentized eschatology” as "the moment when groups of men possessed by a gnostic ideology attempt to remake the world to conform to their fantasies".
April 24, 2020
The fact that the author is by profession an ethnographer and not a journalist not only provides him with a methodology with his research, but perhaps opens doors when requesting interviews with those who may be wary of opening up with a main stream investigative jounalist.
This is an examination and investigation into the obscure and bizarre, esoteric philosophy that is called Traditionalism.
A philosophy with its rejection of rationalism and modernity, that inspires much of the populist right around the world.
Placing spiritual concerns above the material, with a view of the world that however illogical to a rational mind, sees chaos in structure and order in ruins.
It is a scary thought that such people would get anyway near seats of power and influence.
Teitelbaum has spent years researching the subject and the byzantine world that the various gurus, influencers and groups operate in.
The core of the book consists of a study, helped by exclusive interviews of three of the key players at present, Steve Bannon, Aleksandr Dugin and Olavo de Carvalho. All exerting influence far beyond many elected officials.
Covering philosophy, politics, history and religion this is something outside the normal expose of in essence very dangerous people and beliefs. People who seek to divide and instigate division and conflict.
Not altogether an easy read but something that gives an insight into those who have views far from what the Enlightenment represented.
This is an examination and investigation into the obscure and bizarre, esoteric philosophy that is called Traditionalism.
A philosophy with its rejection of rationalism and modernity, that inspires much of the populist right around the world.
Placing spiritual concerns above the material, with a view of the world that however illogical to a rational mind, sees chaos in structure and order in ruins.
It is a scary thought that such people would get anyway near seats of power and influence.
Teitelbaum has spent years researching the subject and the byzantine world that the various gurus, influencers and groups operate in.
The core of the book consists of a study, helped by exclusive interviews of three of the key players at present, Steve Bannon, Aleksandr Dugin and Olavo de Carvalho. All exerting influence far beyond many elected officials.
Covering philosophy, politics, history and religion this is something outside the normal expose of in essence very dangerous people and beliefs. People who seek to divide and instigate division and conflict.
Not altogether an easy read but something that gives an insight into those who have views far from what the Enlightenment represented.
March 31, 2022
I read this hoping it would give me insight into Aleksandr Dugin and his influence over Putin's current behavior.
I find the whole Traditionalist stuff horrifying both because of the end result--burn it all to the ground and start over, and because of the deception. These people go out of the way, it seems, to make Traditionalism look like traditionalism. They will surely ensnare lots of low-information conservatives. This is a fascinating look at what appear to be some disturbing philosophies. I enjoyed the writing style; it held my interest and kept me engaged to the end.
I find the whole Traditionalist stuff horrifying both because of the end result--burn it all to the ground and start over, and because of the deception. These people go out of the way, it seems, to make Traditionalism look like traditionalism. They will surely ensnare lots of low-information conservatives. This is a fascinating look at what appear to be some disturbing philosophies. I enjoyed the writing style; it held my interest and kept me engaged to the end.
July 26, 2024
An interesting look into one of the more esoteric currents of dissident right ideology - Traditionalism. This book gives an overview of notable figures including Steve Bannon, Alexander Dugin, and Olavo de Carvalho, and describes their connections to and influence on their leaders Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Jair Bolsonaro respectively. The author, though clearly unsympathetic to the alt-right, nonetheless is relatively objective and fair in his handling of these fascinating figures and their philosophy.
April 27, 2020
Very interesting insights into Bannon and where he sits in the esoteric tradition
July 30, 2020
Eye opening - terrifying but brilliant. Revealed a whole underworld I didn’t know existed. Truly a revelation of the dark side of politics.
July 24, 2025
Well narrated glimpse of the kernel of traditionalists that drive the new reactionary movements on both sides of the Atlantic.
Medium length.
Medium length.
April 17, 2024
Wow- okay, this book was a lot better than we expected. Upon having it recommended us, and seeing that it was by an American academic, we immediately expected a leftist slag job- but that is not at all what this was. Teitelbaum is a musicologist and ethnographer that got into researching Traditionalist literature through its connection to neofolk, and has provided a thoroughly (to our inspection) even-handed treatment of the legacy of Rene Guenon and Julius Evola on contemporary politics, which although not overly immense, is also not wholly insubstantial, given that this lineage has blossomed into the locus of Steve Bannon, and having some influence in the milieu around Bolsonaro.
Teitelbaum gives as a wealth of first hand impressions, having met the likes of Bannon many times for interviews, as well as Dugin, Jorjani, John Morgan, and Olavo de Carvalho. Its really an interesting and useful book. We were expecting a more journalist-y version of Mark Sedgwick's perspective, but this was not that at all. Teitelbaum doesn't pull any punches or kiss any asses, but he is clearly not out to defame or "gotcha" anyone either. What we get here is an actual honest look at the current developments around a relatively obscure but fascinating and increasingly relevant philosophical/literary movement- the only really contending alternative to the predominant liberal paradigm, which rejects it entirely and offers a viable alternative. (What exactly that alternative looks like, everyone in this book disagrees- but they all do offer some alternative, generally premised on the ideas of Guenon and/or Evola, and their notion of time cycles placing us squaring on in the Kali yuga, wherein we have lost attunement to qualitative/spiritual matters and are wallowing in the ignorance wrought by our pervasive over emphasis on materiality.)
Its quick, its clear, and best of all its neither snide, pedantic or obviously/overly biased. If you're delving into this topic and the delightful drama it entails like we are, then Teitelbaum's book is actually a real page turner!
Teitelbaum gives as a wealth of first hand impressions, having met the likes of Bannon many times for interviews, as well as Dugin, Jorjani, John Morgan, and Olavo de Carvalho. Its really an interesting and useful book. We were expecting a more journalist-y version of Mark Sedgwick's perspective, but this was not that at all. Teitelbaum doesn't pull any punches or kiss any asses, but he is clearly not out to defame or "gotcha" anyone either. What we get here is an actual honest look at the current developments around a relatively obscure but fascinating and increasingly relevant philosophical/literary movement- the only really contending alternative to the predominant liberal paradigm, which rejects it entirely and offers a viable alternative. (What exactly that alternative looks like, everyone in this book disagrees- but they all do offer some alternative, generally premised on the ideas of Guenon and/or Evola, and their notion of time cycles placing us squaring on in the Kali yuga, wherein we have lost attunement to qualitative/spiritual matters and are wallowing in the ignorance wrought by our pervasive over emphasis on materiality.)
Its quick, its clear, and best of all its neither snide, pedantic or obviously/overly biased. If you're delving into this topic and the delightful drama it entails like we are, then Teitelbaum's book is actually a real page turner!
April 18, 2023
Truly an excellent book.
Benjamin Teitelbaum manages to describe the main principles of Traditionalism, and influential thinkers such as René Guenon and Julius Evola in a very accessible way. In addition, he convincingly shows how modern influential figures such as Steve Bannon and Aleksandr Dugin were inspired by this philosophy, but also how their views diverge from each other in certain areas.
What I found most interesting were the esoteric references that are also made by current politicians. When you are familiar with these esoteric themes, you will see them in many more places. Not only in Russia, Brazil and the United States, but also in the Netherlands you find them in the Forum for Democracy party. This party is not as influential as Bannon, Dugin or Olavo de Carvalho were but nevertheless managed to become the largest party in the Senate in the Netherlands in 2019. This party's youth branch magazine also featured articles on the Kali Yuga and René Guenon. While this party continues to lose electorally in recent years, this is being framed as a 'long-term project'. This is characteristics for Traditionalists. Electoral success is remarkably often not their main goal; they are concerned with influencing culture. This is referred to as meta-politics, a concept that reminded me of the Marxist Antonio Gramsci's theories.
Teitelbaum sums this up well in the concluding lines of the book. He describes how economic issues seem to become less important in elections, but cultural issues are seen as paramount among the electorate:
"By prioritising these spiritual concerns, politics had become unmodern again, leaving technocrats and systematizers of all stripes - modernists on the left and the right - without a home.
Yes, the Steve Bannon's of our times can find victory where others see defeat. With weapons and armies sometimes manifest, sometimes invisible, they view the world through radically different sets of eyes. Witnessing chaos in structure, order in ruins, and the past in the future."
Benjamin Teitelbaum manages to describe the main principles of Traditionalism, and influential thinkers such as René Guenon and Julius Evola in a very accessible way. In addition, he convincingly shows how modern influential figures such as Steve Bannon and Aleksandr Dugin were inspired by this philosophy, but also how their views diverge from each other in certain areas.
What I found most interesting were the esoteric references that are also made by current politicians. When you are familiar with these esoteric themes, you will see them in many more places. Not only in Russia, Brazil and the United States, but also in the Netherlands you find them in the Forum for Democracy party. This party is not as influential as Bannon, Dugin or Olavo de Carvalho were but nevertheless managed to become the largest party in the Senate in the Netherlands in 2019. This party's youth branch magazine also featured articles on the Kali Yuga and René Guenon. While this party continues to lose electorally in recent years, this is being framed as a 'long-term project'. This is characteristics for Traditionalists. Electoral success is remarkably often not their main goal; they are concerned with influencing culture. This is referred to as meta-politics, a concept that reminded me of the Marxist Antonio Gramsci's theories.
Teitelbaum sums this up well in the concluding lines of the book. He describes how economic issues seem to become less important in elections, but cultural issues are seen as paramount among the electorate:
"By prioritising these spiritual concerns, politics had become unmodern again, leaving technocrats and systematizers of all stripes - modernists on the left and the right - without a home.
Yes, the Steve Bannon's of our times can find victory where others see defeat. With weapons and armies sometimes manifest, sometimes invisible, they view the world through radically different sets of eyes. Witnessing chaos in structure, order in ruins, and the past in the future."
August 22, 2021
A fascinating insight into the worldview of the Far Right. Far deeper and complex look into their motivations, their larger goals for their societies and the slew of influences that have shaped that including (surprisingly for me) sources as wide ranging as Sufi Islam to the Hindu caste system and concept of cyclical time.
One of my favourite books I have read this year. And I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in the intersection of politics, ideology and culture take a look at it.
One of my favourite books I have read this year. And I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in the intersection of politics, ideology and culture take a look at it.
November 24, 2024
I kept seeing this book brought up online, and I checked it out because the audiobook is on Hoopla. It’s a breezy read about some pretty disturbing subjects, particularly right after the election.
The book makes a compelling case that there is an interconnected group of strange, shadowy figures that lurk behind some of the most powerful regimes in the world. But it also makes the case that their views are as incoherent as they are esoteric. And there’s so much mistrust and alienation in that world that it seems unlikely that anything like a real Illuminati could ever form. The book provided both existential terror and solace at times. It’s a strange one.
The book makes a compelling case that there is an interconnected group of strange, shadowy figures that lurk behind some of the most powerful regimes in the world. But it also makes the case that their views are as incoherent as they are esoteric. And there’s so much mistrust and alienation in that world that it seems unlikely that anything like a real Illuminati could ever form. The book provided both existential terror and solace at times. It’s a strange one.
September 19, 2024
i want teitelbaum's job so bad i'm going to be sick
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