A CANON FOR THE ALT-RIGHT: KEITH PRESTON

by Keith Preston

While I generally agree with the choice of works that others have suggested for the canon of the Alternative Right, I have a habit of orienting myself towards strategic and practical considerations as the first order of business. I regard the key to understanding the dilemma our civilization currently faces as rooted in a particular set of institutional concerns: the nature of our present elites, the managerial revolution of the early to mid-twenteith century and the consequent rise of the new class, the growth of mass democracy, the therapeutic state, the infestation of the social sciences with Cultural Marxism, and the triangular relationship between mass consumer culture, the advent of the mass media, and the ideological synthesis of neoliberalism and Cultural Marxism whose internalization by the masses is fostered by that same media. 

With these concerns in mind, I have come up with a reading list of my own consisting of relevant works. Some of these are familiar classics of the Right. Others are more obscure works of immense quality. Some are more recent scholarly or journalistic pieces, and still others are works from the Left from which we can learn. Here it is:

Elite Theory:

• Vilfredo Pareto-The Mind and Society, The Rise and Fall of the Elites, The Transformation of Democracy, Sociological Writings
• Georges Sorel-Reflections on Violence
• Gaetano Mosca-The Ruling Class, (Mosca and the Theory of Elitism by Ettore Albertoni)
• Robert Michels- Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy
• James Burnham-The Machiavellians
• Joseph A. Schumpeter- Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
• C. Wright Mills-The Power Elite
• William Domhoff-Who Rules America?
• Thomas Dye-Top Down Policymaking
• Floyd Hunter- Community Power Structure: A Study of Decision Makers

New Class Theory:

• Lawrence Dennis-The Dynamics of War and Revolution, Operational Thinking for Survival
• Max Nomad-Aspects of Revolt
• James Burnham-The Managerial Revolution
• Alvin Gouldner- The Future of Intellectuals and the Rise of the New Class
• Milovan Djilas-The New Class
• Mikhail Bakunin- “The International and Karl Marx”

Mass Democracy:

• Jose Ortega y Gasset-Revolt of the Masses
• Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn-Leftism, Leftism Revisited, Liberty or Equality, The Menace of the Herd
• Bertrand de Jouvenel- On Power: The Natural History of Its Growth
• Louis Ferdinand Celine-Journey to the End of the Night
• Charles Maurras- Ou le Mythe d'Une Droite Révolutionnaire
• Maurice Barres-The Cult of the Self, Novel of the National Energy
• Han Hermann Hoppe-Democracy: The God That Failed
• Alexis De Tocqueville-Democracy in America
• Pierre-Joseph Proudhon-The Solution to the Social Problem
• Max Stirner-The Ego and Its Own
• H.L. Mencken-(anything by Mencken is worth reading)
• Albert Jay Nock-Our Enemy, The State
• Ernst Junger-In Storms of Steel, Eumeswil
• Anthony de Jasay-The State
• Gerard Radnitzky-From Philosophy of Science to Political Philosophy
• Friedrich August von Hayek-The Road to Serfdom
• Hilaire Belloc-The Servile State
• Joseph Sobran-(anything by Sobran is worth reading) 

Cultural Marxism/Totalitarian Humanism/Therapeutic State:

• Thomas Sowell-A Conflict of Visions
• Thomas Szasz-The Therapeutic State
• Samuel Francis-“James Burnham, The New Class, and the Nation State”
• Stephen Baskerville- Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fatherhood, Marriage and the Family
• Sean Gabb-Cultural Revolution, Culture War
• Rousas John Rushdooney- The Messianic Character of American Education
• James Burnham-The Suicide of the West
• Robert Putnam- Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, "E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century”
• Bill Bishop-The Big Sort

Corporations and the Left:

• Gabriel Kolko-The Triumph of Conservatism (Libertarians have often cited this work as an illustration of how corporations promote and foster statism. It would be interesting to conduct a study expanding upon the “Kolko thesis” to explore the question of corporate support for PC.)
• Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer-Dialectic of Enlightenment (This famous work from the left-wing Frankfurt School suggested that a “culture industry” shapes public consciousness and social values through the mass media and advertising. It would be interesting to use this model and invert it to examine the matter of how a “culture industry” does indeed exist and how this culture industry serves as a massive propaganda apparatus for PC.)

Foreign Policy/International Relations:

• George Kennan- Around the Cragged Hill: A Personal and Political Philosophy
• Carl Schmitt-Nomos
• Martin Van Creveld-The Rise and Decline of the State, The Transformation of War
• William S. Lind-(Lind’s scattered essays on fourth generation warfare are well worth seeking out)
• Pat Buchanan-A Republic, Not an Empire; Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War
• James Petras-The Power of Israel Over the United States