I bought and read y'all's book, and it was great! Thank you for writing it; it's really colored my thinking on how evangelical Republicans view Democrats after decades of their demonization in rightwing circles. It's pretty bleak as far as the prospects of Democrats ever winning over people like that, but your book offered me a lot of insight as to why it's so bleak.
Oh that's really cool! Thanks Don. We're actually in the (rather frenzied) process of finalizing and submitting the manuscript of the follow up book, which focuses on the broadening popularity of demonology (talk about bleak) during the first 6 months of Trump 2.0. It's much more focused on the underlying myth/legend/storytelling element (the chapters are titled: Myth, Legend, Ritual, Exorcism, Combat, Hell), with history still (the first two chapters compares MAGA storytelling to stories told by the First and Second Klans), but a lot more contemporary analysis, including a ton of rhetorical analysis of things like the Hegseth hearings and Bukele/Zelenskyy WH meetings and various Trump speeches etc. Initially when we were planning the SG book we expected it would mostly focus on the Trump Era; we figured we'd write a chapter or two about the history, then pivot into the present moment. But by the time we got to chapter 5 and realized um we're still in the 1990s, we had to reassess: our one book was going to be two books. Needless to say, it's been terrible to write!
I bet the sequel has been Hell to write. It's all very depressing stuff, and being contemporary rather than historical probably makes it even harder to get through. I'll beer you both strength to get through to the finish line, because I know how depressing it must get.
The new book sounds fascinating though, and I'll keep an eye out for it, and make sure not to read near any upper story windows. Judging from the chapter titles, assuming they're in order, things just get worse and worse by the end of the book. The rhetoric you see from these people is so over the top and disgusting, but man a lot of people are convinced by it. And with the modern media environment, where things get wings online, and people live in these bespoke little realities rather than actual reality, and with AI propaganda popping up and seeping in, more trouble is ahead. Much more trouble.
Oh, and maybe when y'all are a little less busy Tim should have you as guests for the pod.
It really has been such a strange process to work on this follow up book. Luckily (luckily?) I have some experience with the pace and overwhelm and also the existential panic that goes into writing an academic study of hellscapes--- my PhD dissertation in 2012 (which was the basis of my first book in 2015) was on trolling on 4chan, which of course quickly moved into the political/Trumpy realm, and since then the MAGA-trolling cusp has been my primary research focus. So I kind of knew what to expect when we dove into the project in January, but it was still completely gutting, a different level of gutting than anything I'd experienced until then. It did help me process things, at least. But there was never an escape from the granularity of what was happening.
As for the media side of things, the book talks a lot about the trolling element and the ways that the information environment created permission and incentive --really, selected-- for Trump and everything we're seeing now. So the conversations are huge and unwieldy and there are so many reasons beyond Trump that we have Trump. Which is why the only reasonable expectation for the foreseeable future is indeed trouble and much more trouble. All the more reason to try to make sense of it all, I think...anyway thanks again for reading the book and kind words, I hope you're finding a healthy balance in all of this! (i.e. appropriate worry and also still living life).
I bought and read y'all's book, and it was great! Thank you for writing it; it's really colored my thinking on how evangelical Republicans view Democrats after decades of their demonization in rightwing circles. It's pretty bleak as far as the prospects of Democrats ever winning over people like that, but your book offered me a lot of insight as to why it's so bleak.
Oh that's really cool! Thanks Don. We're actually in the (rather frenzied) process of finalizing and submitting the manuscript of the follow up book, which focuses on the broadening popularity of demonology (talk about bleak) during the first 6 months of Trump 2.0. It's much more focused on the underlying myth/legend/storytelling element (the chapters are titled: Myth, Legend, Ritual, Exorcism, Combat, Hell), with history still (the first two chapters compares MAGA storytelling to stories told by the First and Second Klans), but a lot more contemporary analysis, including a ton of rhetorical analysis of things like the Hegseth hearings and Bukele/Zelenskyy WH meetings and various Trump speeches etc. Initially when we were planning the SG book we expected it would mostly focus on the Trump Era; we figured we'd write a chapter or two about the history, then pivot into the present moment. But by the time we got to chapter 5 and realized um we're still in the 1990s, we had to reassess: our one book was going to be two books. Needless to say, it's been terrible to write!
I bet the sequel has been Hell to write. It's all very depressing stuff, and being contemporary rather than historical probably makes it even harder to get through. I'll beer you both strength to get through to the finish line, because I know how depressing it must get.
The new book sounds fascinating though, and I'll keep an eye out for it, and make sure not to read near any upper story windows. Judging from the chapter titles, assuming they're in order, things just get worse and worse by the end of the book. The rhetoric you see from these people is so over the top and disgusting, but man a lot of people are convinced by it. And with the modern media environment, where things get wings online, and people live in these bespoke little realities rather than actual reality, and with AI propaganda popping up and seeping in, more trouble is ahead. Much more trouble.
Oh, and maybe when y'all are a little less busy Tim should have you as guests for the pod.
It really has been such a strange process to work on this follow up book. Luckily (luckily?) I have some experience with the pace and overwhelm and also the existential panic that goes into writing an academic study of hellscapes--- my PhD dissertation in 2012 (which was the basis of my first book in 2015) was on trolling on 4chan, which of course quickly moved into the political/Trumpy realm, and since then the MAGA-trolling cusp has been my primary research focus. So I kind of knew what to expect when we dove into the project in January, but it was still completely gutting, a different level of gutting than anything I'd experienced until then. It did help me process things, at least. But there was never an escape from the granularity of what was happening.
As for the media side of things, the book talks a lot about the trolling element and the ways that the information environment created permission and incentive --really, selected-- for Trump and everything we're seeing now. So the conversations are huge and unwieldy and there are so many reasons beyond Trump that we have Trump. Which is why the only reasonable expectation for the foreseeable future is indeed trouble and much more trouble. All the more reason to try to make sense of it all, I think...anyway thanks again for reading the book and kind words, I hope you're finding a healthy balance in all of this! (i.e. appropriate worry and also still living life).
That sounds like it’s going to be a fascinating book,
Thank you Linda! It's the strangest thing I've ever worked on...
The Shadow Gospel is now on my must-read list, so I'll be ready for the follow-up!
Thank you! I'd love to know what you think!