Announcing two Balloon Juice zooms with Elle Reeves to talk about her book.
Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics
First zoom: Saturday, February 15 at 3:30 pm Eastern time. Charlottesville in 2017.
Second zoom: Saturday, March 1 at 3:30 pm Eastern time. Insurrection on Jan 6, 2021.
We won’t just look backwards, we’ll talk about what we can learn from the those events that we can use going forward.
To attend, please RSVP by email to WaterGirl at balloon-juice.com
Who is Elle Reeve, and why would you want to read her book?
Let’s see. For starters, Cole has known Elle Reeve for a long time, she’s written a terrific book, and we’re lucky that she is up for having a couple of book club zooms.
We also know she’s smart, because when I asked her to send me a blurb that I could use for this post, she enlisted a friend of hers to write it for her. Self-promotion is hard; outsource whenever possible!
“Named one of the best books of 2024 by The Washington Post, Elle Reeve’s Black Pill is a wild ride into the dark heart of political discourse on the internet and how it has come to be a decisive factor in our current politics. Over a decade of reporting, Reeve unearths hundreds of as-yet-unseen documents and exposes some of the most notorious leaders of American far right groups in dozens of hours of exclusive interviews. This unique raft of reporting goes deeper than ever to explain just how these nefarious forces conspired to propel Donald Trump to the presidency in 2016 and drove real-world political action in Charlottesville in 2017 and at the January 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C.
With this clarity comes a more nuanced understanding of not just how it all happened, but also how those who oppose creeping fascism can fight back.
Reeve’s unique voice, sharp observations, and penchant for dark humor are propulsive. Black Pill is an essential and entertaining read for anyone interested in how we got to this moment in American political history, what might happen next, and how to affect change.
Link to the Washington Post review.
NYT Book Review. (If You Want to Understand Why Democracy Is Under Attack, Read This Book.)
The book is available on Amazon and elsewhere. If you need a copy of the book because money is tight right now, send me an email message and I’ll pair you up with someone who is willing to sponsor a book.
Miss Bianca
Just got it out from the library. We’ll see if I have the heart (or stomach) to read it before the Zooms.
WaterGirl
No need to RSVP again if you already have.
A Ghost to Most
If she ever wants to mingle with 10,000 of these knuckleheads, she can always go to the National Skirmish of the N-SSA, in Gainesboro, VA. Every May and October.
David Collier-Brown
Bought it, loved it. Informative, but understandably dark.
WaterGirl
@David Collier-Brown: I can’t recall the details of who RSVP’d, though I do have them all in a folder. Are you planning to come to the zoom?