Benjamin R. Teitelbaum

I picked this up expecting a light spot of fishing for information about the Traditionalist intelligentsia in the dark lakes of the alt-right. Instead, Teitelbaum leads you on insane global expedition aboard a trawler, one that takes you to the abysses of right-wing thought, and draws lines within a milieu shaping geopolitics in a very real way.

People may be critical of the author for not being critical enough and giving these views a platform. However, this is not a work of critical theory, it feels more like a topography of the ideology, and a treasure trove for understanding how and why it does what it does. An excellent reference point for many future works, one would hope.… (més)

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".… (més)

To be honest, my interest in this book was mostly prurient, in as much as I find it hard to take Steven Bannon seriously as being anything more than a man on the make with bad attitudes. Then, just as I was about to start reading this work, Mr. Bannon and his associates were arrested for mail fraud; my interest level really evaporated at that point. However, Teitelbaum, who also seems to have second thoughts on just how seriously Bannon should be taken in the wake of his arrest, still believes that are lessons to be learned. The most relevant point being that Bannon espouses a philosophical position that we essentially live in a void of spiritual meaning, due to where modern society stands in the great circle of time, and breaking this cycle would be worth it if it enabled a return to a state of spiritual wholeness. Or, at least, a more appropriate social order. If a lot of Arabs, Chinese & Mexicans die in the process, that's the way it goes.

Another useful point of this exercise in reporting is that it shows the general reader the concerns of a modern anthropologist, which have more to do with the studying of social sub-cultures, rather than communing with traditional cultures in out of the way places; which for Dr. Teitelbaum means devotees of so-called "Traditionalism." What Teitelbaum seems to have really hoped for in this exercise was to get access to Aleksandr Durgin, the notorious Russian political activist and philosophical thinker; no luck though. Call it the difference between dealing with useful idiots and actual power players. With this in mind I think that the author did about as well with his material as he was going to do.… (més)

An intellectual biography of Steve Bannon, Olavo de Carvalho, and Alexander Dugin, Teitelbaum's book includes a panoramic view of international Traditionalism as well as a quite shocking story about how alt-right elements and international financial corporations worked to undermine Venezuela in 2017. It confirms many of the beliefs people had about Bannon's actions in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. It does, though, struggle to define its central topic. This a difficult task given that, as the author highlights, Traditionalism branches into so many schools and is adopted in myriad ways; although he could have clarified things more. Also, there is little discussion of the manner in which Traditionalism connects to the rest of the "alt-right."… (més)