Doppelganger
A Trip Into the Mirror World
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4.7 • 9 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
*WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION*
*THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
*A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, AND PROSPECT*
‘If I had to name a single book that makes sense of these last few dark years, it would be this one’ New York Times
‘A deeply compelling read … urgent and necessary’ Evening Standard
Naomi Klein, author of era-defining bestsellers, The Shock Doctrine, This Changes Everything and No Logo, is back with her most compulsive and personal book yet: a revelatory journey into the mirror world of our polarised age
When Naomi Klein discovered that a woman who shared her first name, but had radically different, harmful views, was getting chronically mistaken for her, it seemed too ridiculous to take seriously. Then suddenly it wasn't. She started to find herself grappling with a distorted sense of reality, becoming obsessed with reading the threats on social media, the endlessly scrolling insults from the followers of her doppelganger. Why had her shadowy other gone down such an extreme path? Why was identity - all we have to meet the world - so unstable?
To find out, Klein decided to follow her double into a bizarre, uncanny mirror world: one of conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers and demagogue hucksters, where soft-focus wellness influencers make common cause with fire-breathing far right propagandists (all in the name of protecting 'the children'). In doing so, she lifts the lid on our own culture during this surreal moment in history, as we turn ourselves into polished virtual brands, publicly shame our enemies, watch as deep fakes proliferate and whole nations flip from democracy to something far more sinister.
This is a book for our age and for all of us; a deadly serious dark comedy which invites us to view our reflections in the looking glass. It's for anyone who has lost hours down an internet rabbit hole, who wonders why our politics has become so fatally warped, and who wants a way out of our collective vertigo and back to fighting for what really matters.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
What begins as an effort to understand the bewildering journey taken by erstwhile feminist, Naomi Wolf’s “doppelgänger”, soon turns into an examination of conspiracy theories and a surprisingly empathetic meditation on the appeal of ‘antireality’, or what Klein calls the Mirror World. Making sense of all the madness and distortion in this Mirror World is no easy task, and with honest self-reflection Klein also argues that none of us is immune to its allure. It’s a typically wide-ranging work, and as such, some of the dots may not fully join up for every reader. But where her analysis has undeniable force is in her profound desire for a renewed sense of purpose and connection in a world still reeling from the COVID fallout. Crucially, she urges us to remember that now is still a moment of intense crisis. We may be trying to forget COVID, but we cannot forget the scale of the climate disaster that looms over us. Connect now, act now, Klein tells us, because very soon it will be too late. The flight from reality is all too understandable, but it is a luxury we simply cannot afford.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this striking meditation on contemporary political ideology, journalist Klein (This Changes Everything) explores unsettling resonances between her progressive beliefs and those of feminist turned right-wing conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf. Klein recounts her annoyance over the tendency for commentators to confuse her with Wolf (who like her is a Jewish woman known for writing "big-idea books"), and her alarm as her "doppelgänger" veered rightward during the Covid-19 pandemic, embracing antivaxxer and Stop the Steal conspiracy theories and becoming a frequent guest on Steve Bannon's podcast. On this bleakly comic happenstance Klein hangs an analysis of right-wing populism, particularly the antivaxxer movement, as a warped mirror image of her own anticapitalist convictions. She goes on to find doppelgängers at the heart of other political ideologies, arguing, for example, that Nazism was the doppelgänger of a genocidal Western colonialism, and that Israeli Zionism views Palestinians as malignant doppelgängers much as antisemites view Jews. Klein's writing is perceptive and intriguingly personal, but the doppelgänger theme begins to feel slightly overextended, with too many variations muddling the metaphor. However, by articulating such an expansive view of the uncanny, Klein's mesmerizing narrative reflects the unique anxieties and modes of analysis that have come to dominate the online era. Like Klein's previous books, it's a definitive signpost of the times.
Customer Reviews
Thought provoking
Made me reflect and consider the way I respond to political/intellectual arguments in (for me) a very positive way.