Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age

Great replacement theory is the ideological beating heart of the new authoritarianism sweeping the globe, according to this brilliant and eye-opening study. Historian and National Book Award winner Kendi (Stamped from the Beginning) notes that countries whose current head of state or opposition leader espouse great replacement theory include the U.S., U.K., Israel, South Korea, India, El Salvador, and “nearly every country in Europe.” The term, coined in 2011 by novelist turned right-wing ideologue Renaud Camus, broke into the American political mainstream after the first election of Donald Trump; it posits that shadowy “elites” are “enabling peoples of color to displace... White people” or other privileged or dominant ethnic groups, who thus “now need authoritarian protection.” Charting the historic precursors to great replacement theory, beginning with the early 20th-century writings of American eugenicist Madison Grant, Kendi demonstrates the concept’s long-standing ties to authoritarianism (Grant’s ideas on race were referred to as “my bible” by Adolf Hitler) and convincingly argues that the success of all authoritarians lies in their ability to redirect the legitimate grievances of the exploited away from their class interests and toward paranoid fantasy. Kendi closes with an astute blueprint for combatting this kind of politics that involves bolstering nonprofit media and civic education, though he shrewdly notes that “nothing minimizes the draw of great replacement theory like radically improving societal conditions.” It adds up to a rousing call for solidarity across lines of class and race in order to fight fascism. (Mar.)