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Books
- War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right. (Penguin, HarperCollins, University of Campinas Press, la Bussola).
- Bestseller, Brazil 2021
- An Estadão Book of the Year
- A Financial Times Editor’s Pick
- A CapX Book of the Year
- Reviews and other coverage
- “Benjamin Teitelbaum’s examination of three critical figures shaping the global right in three vital countries — U.S., Russia and Brazil — is such an indispensable text not only for understanding those nations but also some of the most profound and tumultuous political shifts defining societies on every continent.” – Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award winner.
- “Those who have not yet must read War for Eternity.” – Caetano Veloso, Grammy Award winner and 2012 LRA Person of the Year.
- “A book that defies political classification …every person on the right needs to hear” – Glenn Beck, Fox News and The Blaze host, bestselling author.
- “The author has penned a fast-paced account that reads like a Dan Brown novel. Rich in cinematic description, it cuts from ornate hotel lobbies to Caucasian battlefields, from Steve Bannon’s couch to a Hare Krishna ashram in Mumbai.…gripping, and convincingly makes the case that eastern-themed ideas have influenced thinkers on the right.“ – Eric Kaufman, Financial Times
- “Rigorous investigative journalism.” Jean Wyllys, former Member of Parliament and Harvard University Scholar at RISK, Revista Forum
- “Extensively reported” Washington Post
- “[H]onest and fair” Jesse Russell, The European Conservative
- “Remarkable tension between hyperreal sensationalism and spiritualist sensationalism are brought to the fore in Benjamin Teitelbaum’s excellent new book… Part ethnography, part biography of Bannon, and part political analysis.” – Victor Buzzone and Matt McManus, Jacobin
- “Astonishing and chilling” – Damon Linker, The Week
- “A breathless account” Kirkus Reviews
- “Extraordinary… Teitelbaum’s stunning account exposes the intellectual roots of 21st century American nationalism—all while reading like a political thriller.”—Aaron Gwyn, author of All God’s Children and Wynne’s War
- “War for Eternity works as a kind of anthropological study, but also as a beautiful piece of investigative journalism.” – Gabriel Trigueiro, O Globo
- “well-reported…entertaining…frightening” Brian Dohurty,
Reason
- “Fascinating…breathless…a surprising insight into how current world politics is shaped, not only by naked, economic and political calculations, but also by strange spiritual visions dreamed right up to the top of the populist governments.” – Fredrik Stjernfelt, Weekendavisen
- “a necessary primer…briskly written analysis-cum-reportage…a conspiracy thriller” – Tara Isabella Burton, Washington Examiner
- “[Bannon has] been called far right, a fascist, a white supremacist. But according to a gripping new book by academic Benjamin R. Teitelbaum, Bannon’s philosophy is actually a lot weirder, if perhaps no less alarming.…fascinating insight.” Tom Slater, Spiked
- “Solid research” – Geraldine Doogue, National Radio (Australia)
- “This is no dry academic text. Teitelbaum writes like a journalist, in a style that is engaging, empathetic but always critical. The result is a fascinating book … Informed, engaging and insightful.“ – Eoin Ó Broin, The Irish Times
- “Masterful…By revealing the spiritual motivations projects targeting liberal democracy, War for Eternity would be worth reading. But it goes much further by showing details of a universe of beliefs that, despite occupying a central place in the current political scene, are kept deliberately hidden or excessively confused and abstract as part of the strategy itself… Teitelbaum, with his ethnographic empathy and his narrative talent, seems to bet on Enlightenment – this aspiration so characteristically modern – as an important way to deal with the destructive pretensions of his characters and eventually defeat them.” Adriane Sanctis and Luciana Silva Reis Folha de São Paulo
- “Like Dan Brown’s pol sci doctoral thesis… We are as well placed as we ever have been to ask what comes after liberal democracy. In the fine grain of that debate, Traditionalism would be about as useful as throwing your shoes in the sky to dislodge the clouds. But in its sheer vaulting intellectual ambition, in its desire to knock down everything sacred to humanists from Descartes onwards, it can knock us back towards our senses.” Gavin Haynes, UnHerd
- “Opening like a reprise of Anne’s Rice novel Interview for a Vampire… the book represents the first serious intellectual effort to investigate the influence of Traditionalism on the new global populism in the form of a highly readable work of commercial non-fiction.” Daniel Miller, Voegelin View
- “Teitelbaum describes this book as a mix of ethnography and investigative journalism. It succeeds on both counts. War for Eternity demonstrates the author’s vast knowledge of the radical right and provides an accurate account of the various ideological currents he examines. Unlike most academic ethnographic studies, however, this book is exceptionally readable.” George Hawley, Law and Liberty
- “This is a most alarming book, with a terrible, pertinent relevance…The horrid truth is that this author has produced a book to make us tremble.” Julia Langdon, The Tablet
- “This book has the makings of a fine Hollywood script” – Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs
- “Highly recommended” – António Araújo, Diário de Noticias
- “Benjamin Teitelbaum has just published a major new book on contemporary Traditionalism…Although War for Eternity is written in light, journalistic style, it is based on thorough research…required reading.” Mark Sedgwick, Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies and author of Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century,
The Traditionalist Blog
- “You can see the level of intellectual thought transitioning into modern action in the geo-political world by [Bannon’s] comments and this was years before Trump’s win. This story is so compelling.” The Rob Maness Show
- “Very, very interesting indeed.” Freddy Gray, The Spectator Podcast
- “It’s first-person, gonzo journalism and creative non-fiction wrapped in to one. A tremendous book. […] It could be a movie.” Jack Murphy Live
- “A US scholar speaks to global far-right figures and argues that they are linked by an obscure philosophy, traditionalism…War for Eternity joins the dots between this newly influential philosophy and leading personalities from the global right.” – Luke Harding, The Guardian
- “Teitelbaum has offered us a wonderfully written, easy to read, and profoundly thoughtful look into a shadowy White House whisperer.” Jerry Lembcke, Covert Action
- “A very well-documented account, anchored in extensive research and interviews with the characters involved.” Marcos Augusto Gonçalves, Folha de São Paulo
- “War for Eternity is a remarkable book. […] Teitelbaum’s trek through the wilder borderlands of the far-right intelligentsia is genuinely illuminating and even gripping.” Ronald Beiner, Inroads
- “Teitelbaum has pulled off an impressive journalistic feat… Perhaps what is most refreshing about Teitelbaum’s work is that he is willing to enlighten where others are ready to condemn.” Jonathon Van Maren, The European Conservative
- “Engaging research…an impressive warning.” Kolja Zydatiss, Novo
- “Very detailed and well-reasoned, an important exposé of the underpinnings of the movement.” Michelangelo Signorine, The Signorine Report
- “Cleverer and more fair-minded than most critiques.” Derek Turner, Chronicles
- Entendendo Bolsonaro
- “An extraordinary work” The Tom Hartmann Show
- “In 2020, a work of great relevance for understanding of anti-democratic movements throughout the world was published. Title: War of Eternity […] Mandatory reading to understand the chaotic set of postulates that permeate the revolt against the modern world.” Luiz Marques, Sul21
- “A must read” Hallie-Casser-Jayne Show
- “Insightful and immersive” Matthew Goodwin, The Sunday Times
- “The great merit of Teitelbaum’s work consists in taking seriously the object of his study,… As the ideology of these men was able to come to power in countries whose international status…is extremely relevant, it will not be through ridicule that we will arrive at answers that truly matter.” Teo Loyal, Gazeta Ascardas
- “Illuminating“ Greg Berg,Wisconsin Public Radio
- “Brilliant” Tim Black Spiked
- “Timely, insightful and often troubling. . . War for Eternity is predominantly an attempt to understand the ideology of Bannon and other important alt-right figures. . . Teitelbaum enjoys remarkable access to them and uses his background research into the contemporary far right to fill in the gaps, draw connections and explain the bigger picture.” Kieran Pender, Literary Review
- “I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this book…once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down…utterly fascinating.” Tonio Epstein, Vermont Public Radio
- “You loose yourself in it, trust me.” Institute of Public Affairs
- “Teitelbaum seems to believe that the patient and difficult work of listening and dialoguing, bringing to light, can be fruitful in understanding what is going on, and this seems to be the main merit of his work.” Rogério P. Severo, Estado da Arte
- “War for Eternity warns us to look deeper.” Church Times
- “One of the most interesting investigations of the rise of far-right populism…I read it in three days because I couldn’t put it down.” Conspirituality
- “War for Eternity is a brilliant book. Very readable.” – Aaron Bastani, NovaraFM
- “Essential reading for those who want to understand the moment we are living in” Marilia Bueno, Plural
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- Unicamp Press interview
Journal Special Issue
- “Nordic Whiteness.” Co-edited with Catrin Lundström. Scandinavian Studies 89:2 (2017).
Articles and Chapters
- The Study of Far-Right Music. Music Research Annual (2021).
- “Traditionalism in the American Right.” In Bàrbara Molas and Tamir Bar-On (eds) The Right and Radical Right in the Americas. New York: Lexington Books (2021).
- Making Messiah Swedish: Localities of Music and Identity in Ethno-Tourist America. American Music (2020)
- Tremors from Afar: Donald Trump and the Sweden Democrats. Patterns of Prejudice (2019).
- “Daniel Friberg and Metapolitics in Action.” In Mark Sedgwick (ed) Key Thinkers of the Resurgent Right. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2018).
- Implicit Whiteness: Right-Wing Nihilism and the Politics of Ethnocentrism in Colorblind Sweden. Scandinavian Studies89:2 (2017).
- “Rap, Reggae, and White Minoritization.” In Fabian Holt and Antti-Ville Kärjä (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Popular Music in the Nordic CountriesOxford: Oxford University Press (2017).
- “Did Breivik Care about Race? The Study of Scandinavian Radical Nationalism.” In Ursula Lindquist and Jenny Björklund (eds) Dimensions of Diversity in Nordic Culture and Society. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2016).
- Ignorerade band: Politik och ofullständiga ontologier i forskning om Sverigedemokraterna [Ignored Ties: Politics and Incomplete Ontologies in the Study of the Sweden Democrats]. Arkiv 3 (2016).
- Saga’s Sorrow: Femininities of Despair in the Music of Radical White Nationalism. Ethnomusicology58:3 (2014).
- “The Path of Dreams: Breivik, Music, and Neo-Nazism.” In Gro Trondalen, Marie Skanland, and Jan Sverre Knudsen (eds) Musikken og 22 juli. Oslo: Norges musikhøgskole (2014).
- “A Conversation with Hans Eppstein.” In Brent Wetters (ed) On the Third Hand: A Festschrift for David Josephson. Providence: Brown University Press (2016).
- Foreword: Why Music? Music and Radicalism special issue. Zeitschrift für Deradikalisierung und demokratische Kultur3 (2014).
Dissertation
- “‘Come Hear our Merry Song:’ Shifts in the Sound of Contemporary Swedish Radical Nationalism.” Brown University 2013.
- Winner of the Joukowsky Family Foundation Outstanding Dissertation Award
- Winner of the 2013 Applied Research Award, Institute for the Study of Radical Movements
