The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis

by Jared Yates Sexton

From the author of American Rule and the host of The Muckrake Podcast , an ambitious account of how white supremacist lies, religious mythologies, and poisonous conspiracy theories built the modern world and threaten to plunge us into an authoritarian nightmare.
 
To fully understand these strange and dangerous times, Jared Yates Sexton takes a hard look at our nation’s namely, the abuses committed by those in power and the comforting stories that shaped the way the West has viewed itself up to the present. As reactionaries and authoritarians cling to myths about “Western civilization,” The Midnight Kingdom exposes how political power, religious indoctrination, and economic dominance have been repeatedly weaponized to oppress and exploit, sounding an alarm for what lies ahead as the current order frays.
 
Beginning with the Roman Empire and racing through centuries of colonization, war, genocide, and the recurring clashes of progress and regression, Sexton finds our modern world at a crossroads. In an echo of past crises, we have arrived at a time of historic inequality and a fading trust in our institutions. Meanwhile, authoritarianism is gaining momentum and the progress of the twentieth century is being rolled back at dizzying speed. This catastrophic moment holds terrible potential for a return to a totalitarian past or, potentially, a better, realer, more human future. The difference depends on a true reckoning with our history and the larger forces at play or hiding behind this disastrous fantasy of Western superiority.
 
Bracing and compulsively readable, The Midnight Kingdom takes a critical look at the forces that have shaped human civilization for centuries—and invites us to seek a radically different future.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Audiobook, American History, The World, Christianity

384 pages, Hardcover

Published January 17, 2023

About the author

Jared Yates Sexton is a born-and-bred Hoosier living and working in The South as an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Georgia Southern University. His work has appeared in publications around the world and his first short story collection, An End To All Things, is available from Atticus Books. His latest book, The Hook and The Haymaker, was released by Split Lip Press in January 2015. For more information and a select list of publications, please visit the author's website at www.jysexton.com. For more information on Split Lip Press, please visit www.splitlippress.com.

Reviews

[etherealfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

NO, I haven't read it yet. I will be reading it as soon as it comes out.
This is to counteract the idiotic 1 star left before that person ever did or ever will read it.
That one star review also encouraged me to pre-order the book today instead of trying to access it at a library or SCRIBD so Win-Win. Worth. Every. Penny.

[Nathan Shuherk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fast paced history book with excellent writing. I think the early history was lacking and some of the analysis in the later chapters was slightly misguided, but it is an incredibly readable book absolutely packed with information. Hard to say who I would recommend this book to, but do know some people might find it pretty important as way to draw connections to only the broadest historical understanding.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jared Yates Sexton provides a compelling historical overview of the insanity that is Christian conservatism, further reinforcing Christopher Hitchens' conclusion that religion poisons everything. From ancient Rome to the modern-day Trump circus, Sexton illustrates how religious nuttery, racism, and Republicanism have become so deeply enmeshed that it is now utterly impossible to have one without the other.

He also shows that not only are modern-day Republican values utterly reprehensible but entirely unoriginal, with their apocalyptic world views intertwined with their skewed views of patriotism virtually unchanged and unchallenged for centuries. Fitting, I suppose, for such a backwards political party that strives to do little more than usurp power at all costs and turn the clock back to the Dark Ages.

The Midnight Kingdom is, ultimately, Exhibit A for why Republicans so badly want to ban books and endlessly work to undermine science, history, and education.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed: Essentially a World History Book

While this book is a success as a sort of better-researched cliff notes of world history from just before the fall of Rome to the inauguration of President Biden in the United States, I am deeply disappointed due to the marketing of this book.

It was marketed as such, but also that it held examples of what rising fascism in this day and age looks like as well as how to combat this growing sentiment. On this aspect, the book did not deliver.

The history portion was much drier than his previous book (American Rule), and also much broader, as it encompassed world history over a much longer period. However, as much as I liked American Rule, part of it was due to him laying out the facts he found and explaining the themes toward the end of the book. This book did have an epilogue, but it was far from helpful. With chapters that took over an hour to read, the epilogue was only six minutes long. It did not clarify the wide breadth of information into something like what he was advertising leading to the release of this book.

I'm no better off at understanding what rising fascism in this or other countries likely looks like or how that might change today, nor do I have any idea how to fight against this threat.

The epilogue essentially states that we (the people not in governmental positions of power) have historically fought off fascism many times in the past, and we must do so again.

Am I meant to take away that the only way forward is a bloody coup? Or another world war ending in favor of fascism's demise? Because that's all I was able to take away from the history lessons on historical examples.

If you want a broad and information-dense read of world history, this book is for you.

I am thoroughly disappointed that the marketing he did about this book laying out what fascism looks like today is rather lacking, and his claim of having a blueprint for ways regular people can fight against its rise was entirely nonexistent. Perhaps it's in there somewhere, but I could not find any such blueprint.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick overview of oligarchs throughout history and their manipulation of governments and media. I was pretty familiar with most of this, and the author doesn’t really offer any concrete solutions, as is referenced in his epilogue basically saying “things will get worse if we don’t put a stop to it.” Well, yeah…ok.

If you’re not much familiar with the history of the elites then by all means check it out, but I found the vast majority of the material repetitive.

At the very least, the book is a good jumping-off point for further reading. Baudrillard gets the briefest of mentions.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As has been the case with every book i've read by @JYSexton, The Midnight Kingdom . . . is a well researched, documented, and written overview of the subject matter. With this book, the author expands the scope of his research to some of the earliest recorded history of "western" culture and civilization. In so doing, he uncovers, identifies, and explains recurring patterns which have been in play over the dozens of centuries examined. Once the patterns are revealed, the author helps us overlay these patterns on top of what we are experiencing today. We can see over and over and over the methods and motivations used by the ruling class to maintain their power and the hierarchy of the established order. Virtually no tool is overlooked, with religion, mythology, misinformation and ignorance being dependable go-to means of control and domination. Because of the breadth of the subject matter and chronology covered, at times i felt like i was drinking from a fire hose. But the excellent presentation, organization and prose serve as catalysts to deliver the information efficiently. This is a book i will definitely re-read to get a firmer grasp of the information contained. The extensive footnotes undergird the material, with references being approximately 1/4 of the pages in the book. They offer an excellent jumping off point for digging deeper. This is definitely a 5 star book, another excellent book from @JYSexton.

[Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have always been political scapegoats. Especially when the narrative is about entire groups of people and doesn't make any sense, it's what we'd today call a "conspiracy theory." In ancient times, these scapegoating arguments were often religious; since the Enlightenment, people phrase their arguments to sound more scientific, but the arguments are still false. People who make these arguments know (at least unconsciously) they're guilty of harming others, and they project that guilt onto the demonized other, which perpetuates the idea of "sin." The more they project, the more they feel guilty, and the more they have to project. Thus, the MAGA nonsense and QAnon-style conspiracy theories in the US today are permutations of millennia of politicized codswallop. The historical narrative here shows that evolution. Because certain falsehoods in history have never been put to bed, they keep popping up today. I also read Sexton's American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World But Failed Its People.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. It is an important piece of history and research. When you ask "why are things the way they are?" when it comes to power, economics, religious authoritarianism, and civil discourse, this book has the why. I could write up a very detailed summary, but if you have ever asked this question, read this book. Beginning in ancient Rome with the pagan empire and the new Christians and analyzing the dynamics of change from then to current day, I have found the answers I have attempted to cobble together from various sociology, history, and political theory. The author has done the work and I will re-read this often I think.

[Jack Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Midnight Kingdom, A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis
Jared Yates Sexton, 2023
Since the Roman Empire, 2000 years ago, throughout the ensuing centuries, world politics, culture, mythologies, science, the western world, Europe has had an outsized influence on world history in relation to its proportion of world population. This influence in many ways has not always been a positive factor on the evolving world order. Jared Sexton’s new book, the Midnight Empire explores the dark underbelly of European culture and influence. It has been a dark underbelly characterized by greed, unbridled power seeking, exploitation, slavery, mass slaughters of indigenous peoples and those following competing religions. We, now living in the twenty-first century, we descendants, and carriers of western culture, now face a world where the west is challenged by China as the dominate world power, now face existential challenges not only to our governing and cultural mythologies but looming environmental disaster that threatens our very existence on the planet. How did we arrive at this point? As William Faulkner once said: “The past is not dead, its not even past”. Sexton takes us on a comprehensive journey through the last 2000 years of western history, shedding light on how our past has led us to this “Midnight Kingdom”.
One of the dominate culture mythologies and cultural influences of the past two millennium has been the Christian Church. For the first three centuries of its existence, the Christian religion had been for the most part a persecuted cult that challenged the polytheistic mythologies that supported the emperor and Roman power. This all ended with the Council of NIcaea in AD 325. Constantine coopted the Christian religion, established an orthodox faith and founded a religious entity that would spiritually justify Roman state power. From that point on culminating with the establishment of Christianity as the official Roman state religion in 380AD, other religions were labeled demonic and heretical, and the persecutions began including what would become the centuries long persecution of the Jewish faith. For the next 1600 years, a symbiotic relation persisted between the Catholic church and emperors and kings, mutually benefitting both with power and wealth. Crusades were mounted against heretics and Muslims and others under the guise of religion but not only resulting in millions slaughtered and tortured but amounting to huge seizures of property and wealth divvied up between church and state for their mutual benefit. What Constantine initiated in 325AD, a system of hierarchical power, serfdom of the masses, justified by church doctrine persisted through another 1000 years until the age of revolutions. A new age began where feudalism could no longer be justified or maintained. As Sexton explains:
“The great chain of being would have to be reimagined to include some human dignity and rudimentary rights for even the peasant class. For the hierarchy to survive, total exploitation of peasant labor needed to be replaced by another group of people, this time dividing the world between the Europeans, a relatively fresh identification, and every other inhabitant of the planet Earth. Power had shifted since the fall of Rome from the total dominance of the church to the unquestionable sovereignty of Kings. Now a fluctuating arrangement grew between the noble class and the urban merchants. The new partnership sought to remedy internal frictions…they would redirect energies and violence in pursuit of economic growth and hidden by the cloak of a religious crusade… now it was time to conquer the rest of the world.”
What ensued starting in 1492 was a ravaging, horrific, exploitation, enslavement and genocide of the indigenous peoples of the world in the ruthless pursuit of greed and power. Again, all this justified beginning with Pope Nicholas V in 1452. “in the Papal Bull Dum diverssas, granting Portugal full and free power over pagans and other infidels and all enemies of Christ, who might be invaded, conquered, plundered, and subjugated, and their persons reduced to perpetual slavery, their wealth and resources converted to Portugal’s use and advantage… building off the Augustinian logic of good persecution in the name of Christ, as well as the Crusades positioning as legitimized holy war, the stage was set for subjugation.”
The era of European colonialism and exploitation merged with the era of corporate capitalism justified by the new offshoots of Christianity, Lutheranism and Calvinism in which “Work and accumulated wealth might denote a secular representation of their spiritual progress.” In this era the Dutch East India Company and British East India Company were formed and granted “full power to make and declare peace and war with any of the said heathen nations, and, with their personal militaries and navies, the ability to declare martial law for the defense of their property and the acquisition of a competitor’s property.” So was set the beginning of the era of corporate economic domination of world economies and resources which would follow in the ensuing centuries to the present day. On the consequences of the emerging capitalist system an amazing prediction by one John Stuart Mill in 1848: “The new system was quickening by the second as frenzied capitalists and industrialists sought to utilize every possible resource. Mill recognized this growth and consumption was unsustainable and would have vast consequences if left unchecked. Environmentally, unlimited increase meant a deterioration of the natural world. And if growing inequalities between the classes were not addressed, undoubtedly it would produce a society where some persons grow richer and others poorer.”
Now in the twenty-first century is “the past not even past”? Around the world we have horrific conflagrations raging between different religious factions, wars with factions competing for political power, wars over national identities and territories. Not much has changed in the past 2000 years in that regard. In the US we have gaping wealth divides where .01% of the population owns over 50% of the nation’s wealth. Huge multi-national corporations and billionaires corrupt the political system with massive infusions of campaign finance donations causing political dysfunction and destabilizing and opening rifts of resentment and hatred in society. As in the past there is always ruthless and unprincipled politicians in waiting willing to exploit the dysfunction and societal chaos. Looming ever larger is the impending environmental collapse of global warming and environmental destruction. Are we now as a world and as a nation in a midnight kingdom approaching the apocalypse or a new day, a new system? Sexton opines in the concluding chapter:
“After decades of austerity and corruption, the neoliberal system is under political and financial duress. Just as previous systems – including the Roman Empire, feudalism, and even the post-Napolean European concert lost their power and gravity, we are again coming to a moment in which a new direction is almost assured. And, having defeated leftists and all but made collective action impossible, the only alternatives are being posed by the authoritarian right. The threat to liberal democracy, though largely unrecognized by those trusted to protect it, is very real…. We are facing the prospect of a new day. There are battles to fight and choices to make in determining what dawn might bring, that choosing will require faith. Forces are hard at work to try to rewind time and reinstall theocratic, authoritarian rule based on weaponized faiths that once ruled the world. To defeat them will take a new faith that transcends the divisions of old and centers on a belief and trust in one another.”
We are one people, one human race with an existential stake in the future of our small orb of rock lost in the vast expanse of the universe. Can we realize that before it is too late? What is clear is we cannot as a human society repeat the same performance, we have been acting out for the last 2000 years. It won’t work now if it ever did. We as a society know too much now to go back to the ignorance and dysfunctions of the past. We are all crewmembers of spaceship earth. JACK

[Jonathan Choi · Rating 2 out of 5]

James Joyce once described history as a "a nightmare from which I am trying to awake." Our idea of the history of our family, community, and country informs the possibilities that are open to us and the bounds that limit those possibilities. These horizons can then prove to be a prison that traps a society in crisis. The work of a historian, therefore, is not to be a simple recitor of facts and dates. A historian must be like a physician, diagnosing the illnesses plaguing their patient. Rather than simply taking down their symptoms on their notepad, they must run diagnostic tests and directly address the condition lying underneath.

In this book, Jared Yates Sexton reaches back into antiquity to diagnose the morbid symptoms of our late capitalist age. From the self-serving delusions of mad Roman emperors to the fascist paranoia of American presidents and oligarchs, Sexton takes us through the forms and phases that the ruling classes of the world took to maintain their power and keep the oppressed in line. And yet, by detailing how the ruling elites managed to hold onto the reigns of power, he misses the truly revolutionary achievements of the lower classes. From the 40 hour work week to the elimination of child labor to name a few, the working classes of the world were able to win dignity and rights in the face of murderous police opposition. By paving over the truly radical triumphs of the revolutions throughout history as failures, Sexton seems resigned to the impossibility of radical change and dooms humanity to a future of neofeudalism and internecine conflict. A history this thin and repetitive only serves to reify the elite's conception of the future and discounts the possibility of a radical future that is achievable. In this way, I hope to also wake from the nightmare of Sexton's history.

[jaga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great historical account, more analysis needed. This book provides a great historical account of major political, economic and especially religious developments of the last few thousand years. The way Sexton presents the connections and reactions between the Roman Empire, Christianity, other major religions, etc was so helpful in understanding where we came from and where we are. In short, I thought the book was really good. That said, more analysis which supports the author's thesis would have been helpful for me. would have been helpful for me.

[Bob Manning · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a random walk through history starting with the collapse of the Roman Empire. Sexton briefly touches on many of the key moments in the history of the world. He is cynical about every incident he writes about. He believes that each person and group he writes about had nefarious motives, usually either greed or a hunger for power. He often quotes fringe players in a group and then suggest that the entire group has these same beliefs. For instance, he quotes Alex Jones and Jerry Falwell and suggests that they are representative of the entire Republican Party. He states that "Republicans favored authoritarian Vladimir Putin over Democratic presidents like Barack Obama and then Joe Biden." Not a few republicans, or some Republicans, but just Republicans.

One of his main points in the book is that our country is in danger of being taken over by authoritarians. Like so many on the left, he believes that Republicans are authoritarian, and that is a given. There is no need to present facts to prove it. In fact, the Democrats are the authoritarians. It's the Democrats that are passing laws that limit our personal freedoms, censoring their critics, and cancelling open debate about their programs. These are all actions of authoritarians.

[Roger Smitter · Rating 3 out of 5]

We get a new way to understand the power of the stories of the first part of the Bible. There are a few names noted but the book focuses on the system that he sees in the Bible , we get some different things to learn about the Crusaders. There are many of the things he said the Pope did in that time. Then we get some information about Machiavelli and then Martin Luther.

In the middle of the book, each chapter supplies readers with short pieces of the US independence and then how that is connected to racists and the freedom of women. He brings gives a few ideas form Hegel and a chapter later the early Republicans. And then Lindberg and the Nazi’s.. And then there’s a few Churchill (and his hate of communism). The story goes WW2 and then the growth of Communists ways to run a country. While the book is mostly grounded in the US, there are other pieces that address the problems of our country with the rest of the world.

The last chapter gives us short pieces of the problems of our times in our time know the need for more leadership in DC and around the country.

Reading this book will make some people to work to change our country.
The some title of the

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I really had to stop myself from finishing this all in a single day or week and wanted to really let this sit as I read it. Jared Yates Sexton has written some incredible books looking at the historical aspects of American trauma and finding ways to explain it from a human point of view. The Midnight Kingdom is no exception. In this, Jared traces the history of power throughout world history, but more importantly, how those powers consistently reuse and remake myths of religion, traditionalism, and paranoia and how they continue to succeed.

There are SO many historical threads to tug on here, but the one I found most revealing is the origin of “blood libel” myths, an often used anti Semitic trope, from all the way back in The Roman Empire. In fact, almost every major world defining moment in Western culture has then been blamed on Jewish conspiracies. Pretty wild.

This is an important book. I’m sure I will be diving back into it again soon.

[Ian Yarington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sort of surprised at how historical it was. I know it's right in the title but Sexton goes super deep into history and explains some of the reoccurring themes that lead up to the "coming crisis" and it couldn't have been more enlightening and spot on. I thoroughly enjoyed the book but for me it almost felt like two books in parts. There was the historical aspect which felt one way, then Sexton brought it all together with ties to things that are recent and still happening. The things that are still happening and very recent felt different, I had to think about why, and I think it's because it's so fresh and I remember it all happening versus the historical stuff that felt detached. Not that that was a bad thing, it was still a magnificent book and I highly recommend0 it! I will not hesitate to pick up anything from Yates Sexton again!

[Brenda Kochis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book. It traces the history of racism and antisemitism throughout the ages, looking at forces that have shaped human civilization. It is an interesting story not only focused in the U.S. but also in other countries primarily European. It looks at the swings between democratic and authoritarian tendencies; basically, history has repeated itself so many times in looking at history since the Roman Empire. In a sense there has been progress and regression as political power, religion, and economics influence the various actors.
It was a difficult book to read and seemed to focus on the forces driving civilization. One wonders if there were other forces in play that swung the pendulum back from time to time.
To the author's credit this book was well researched and very detailed. It is not a light read, and most points are well described.

[Sam Stamos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book vindicated a lot of my feelings I’ve had since about midway through the trump administration. Namely that the history of America, and that of the world, has been a consistent ideological battle between the liberal and conservative. With the liberal being on the right side of history time and again.

This book does an excellent job in making you feel angry, frustrated, and terrified. My only criticism is that at the very end he makes a point of pointing to the optimism of the future and the choice at hand for Western civilization and I would have preferred for that to have been a theme throughout the book. Rather than being a well written 300 page book that ultimately depressed me.

[Heart DeCoupeville · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased Kindle edition at retail price.

This was good as a refresher for anyone who has a solid background in US/European history, but there wasn't a whole lot of new information. Lots and lots and lots of footnotes for further reading, however.

The big disappointment was the lack of a conclusion or indication of where this is all going. We know where we are, and after reading this we should know how we got here, but what really is "the Coming Crisis" and how will we deal with it?

The book was written presumably in 2022, published in 2023, before the 2024 US election and the 2025 installation of the second 💩 regime. As I write this review, it's 28 April 2025, Election Day in Canada, which may give us some indication of what's yet to come. KYFX.

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nearly a did-not-finish for me. The book promises to detail the historical relationship between apocalyptic and conspiratorial Christianity with authoritarian and oligarchic power structures, and takes a tour from ancient Rome to 2021 to do so. However, the argumentation is lacking, particularly because it does not contrast against any other religious or conspiratorial tradition. That said, the book does offer a thought-provoking if not fully argued case against liberal economic orthodoxy, and I did learn several completely new things in the vein of history's losers that nonetheless have striking similarities to contemporary politics.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I agree with some of the people saying this wasn't exactly as advertised, I still enjoyed it. I found myself thinking about some of the ideas and history presented long after I finished the book. It was more dense than expected and I learned a lot. I would have enjoyed a little more commentary or connection between the past and the present. He went over so many important things that sometimes I was like, "isn't he going to emphasize that more?!" I'd recommend it to anyone trying to figure how much of American politics and voters got the way they are.

[Berna Bolyn]

This book sounds interesting but I haven't read it yet but it caught my eye because it sounds a lot like my books and series of - Among Wolves-that just came out in audiobooks book 1- title- Among Wolves-subtitles- Growing up in the Shadow of the Ku Klux Klan and Tribal Lands-by Arthur Burna Bolyn a historical memoir that covers the history of America's power and politics, and divisions. Tribes and Clans. Nature and Environments. Berna Bolyn

[T. J. Ricer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well-researched and well-cited. A difficult, but elucidating read in many ways. The end of empires have always been difficult and violent… and every empire (so far) has eventually fallen.

Not the point of the book, but honestly, it helped me understand where several of the white men over seventy that I know are getting their line of thinking. It’s not great, but helpful to see how they’re set up to believe they’re in the right by seeking an apocalypse. Oof.

[Ellen Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Jared Yates Sexton back in 2015 and I have followed his work ever since. This is a must-read book. Many will find out truths that they never knew about and for those who have studied history, you will still find details that will set your hair on fire.

[Miguel · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most broad historical sweeping narratives to support a premise, some parts of this (particularly towards the end) rang more salient than the earlier, deeper historical ties the author attempted to make thus making it a bit of an uneven listen.

[Sandy Press · Rating 4 out of 5]

A romp through the millenia . Will the world survive ? The same story of corruption ,religion,manipulation,suffering, and greed Very interesting . The Christian Saint Trump will be in court just 10 miles from my home .🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

[Brian Saitzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vital perspective for these turbulent times. (Yes, I read it)

[Hina Ansari · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great historical reference for the craziness going on. My only complaint is I really wanted more on the recent de-evolution of the US.

[Donovan Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The people who SHOULD read this, most likely WILL NOT.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puts current American right in the context of European history.

[Kim Nyborg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for everyone. If you want to know how we got here, read this.