The Anti-Communist Manifesto – A Review
Yesterday, I read Jesse Kelly’s first book, The Anti-Communist Manifesto. And rather than prattle on for paragraphs before telling you what I thought, I decided to just say at the outset that if you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you’ll want to get right on that.
In a word, it is outstanding.
So run to your local bookstore or head to Simon and Schuster to see where you can order it online.
Mine arrived on Friday. Well, technically, mine arrived at the neighbor across the street on Friday while I got my neighbor’s package. Fortunately, I noticed right away that the tiny object within the brown Amazon envelope couldn’t possibly be my copy of The Anti-Communist Manifesto, so I didn’t do anything stupid like rip the envelope open.
I saw the address was my neighbor’s, so I put on my shoes and walked his package across the street, found the box addressed to me, and swapped packages. I was worried one of my other neighbors might see me walking away with my package and presume that I was swiping packages from my neighbor. Since running might make me look guilty, I walked calmly but briskly back to my house with my package under my arm.
Anyroad.
My plan was to start the book on Sunday and then finish reading it today.
But once I started it, I couldn’t stop. Okay, I did stop briefly for bathroom breaks, a shower, and a trip downstairs to put the laundry in the dryer. But even with those breaks, I still finished The Anti-Communist Manifesto in five hours. It is just that good.
Since this is Jesse Kelly’s first book, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Sure, I’m familiar enough with Jesse’s radio show and I follow him on Twitter, so I had some expectations. Even so, The Anti-Communist Manifesto was so much more than I thought it was going to be.
In each chapter, Kelly weaves together the history of communism with the modern-day American communists to give the reader context by showing how the American communists of today didn’t spring up out of nowhere. Instead, their roots are firmly planted in the ground Karl Marx polluted nearly two centuries ago.
Each chapter of the book details one of the ways the communists use a country’s institutions and culture to destroy it. The chapters all begin with historical examples, then show how modern American communists are continuing these same tactics today. Kelly caps off each chapter by outlining the things we, as anti-communists, must do to claw back territory and prevent the communists from destroying the country.
And because this is Jesse Kelly, he does it in a way that even those who don’t enjoy reading about history will not only be able to follow along; they will also be completely captivated.
Not literally captivated. It isn’t as if he tosses you in a gulag or anything.
I especially enjoyed those moments when I would be reading along only to unexpectedly stumble across Jesse Kelly’s trademark humor, which happened frequently, starting with the dedication page which succinctly read, “To me.”
In the chapter on the communist takeover of universities, after Kelly finishes discussing how the communists incorporated Critical Theory to turn your children into little Marxists who believe they are oppressed, he writes:
“This is why your daughter leaves for college as a normal teenager and returns as a pierced, pansexual, blue-hair land whale.”
My advice is when you read The Anti-Communist Manifesto, don’t be one of those people that skips over the Introduction and Acknowledgments. Trust me. Read those too. I laughed my ass off reading the acknowledgments at the end.
Not literally. My ass is still attached.
[If you aren’t a regular listener of Jesse Kelly’s show and don’t follow him on Twitter, you won’t get the “literally” thing. There’s not much to it. He just hates it when people use the word “literally.”]
I could go on. But you’re better off simply picking up a copy of The Anti-Communist Manifesto and reading it for yourself.
You’ll be glad you did.
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