In his highly topical book, Volker Weiß offers a profound and historically sound diagnosis of the AfD and the far right. He astutely reveals how the far right is driven by the goal of overcoming Western liberalism and imposing an alternative interpretation of history. With new impressive details and an analysis of right-wing counter-narratives, the author dissects the new right-wing scene.
The extreme right speaks of an intellectual civil war raging in Germany - and which it is simultaneously fueling. This battle is about nothing less than the sovereignty of interpretation over history and the present in order to detach Germany from the West. The contradictory, glorifying and often shrill historical constructions of the extreme right point to one goal: a "German Democratic Reich" as a synthesis of the authoritarian systems of Germany's past. In his book, Volker Weiß follows on from his bestseller "The Authoritarian Revolt" and analyzes these new methods of cultural warfare, particularly in the fields of history and geopolitics. Just in time for the upcoming Bundestag elections, the historian shows the current development of new right-wing thinking. The most important currents and actors are examined, and the author repeatedly broadens his view to include comparable actions by right-wing milieus in Russia and the USA. A clever and unsparing portrayal of the strategic reinterpretation of our history and the targeted destruction of democratic values by the extreme right. (Publisher)