Joan Donovan

Drafted Into the Meme Wars Joan Donovan

A groundbreaking investigation into the alt-Right's use of memes as a tool to gain unprecedented political and cultural power, from a masterful trio of experts in media and tech.

How did a group of fringe online micro-celebrities, trafficking in nonsense and conspiracy, rock the foundations of American democracy? How did an online playbook first drafted during the Occupy Movement mutate from "Gamer Gate" to "Unite the Right" to QAnon to "Stop the Steal," ultimately breaking upon the steps of the United States capitol in a literal and deadly insurrection?

Drafted into the Meme Wars pulls back the curtain on the digital war room, where the "Carnage at the Capitol" went from online to in real life. The authors-leading media expert Joan Donovan, PhD, veteran tech journalist Emily Dreyfuss, and Brian Friedberg, an ethnographer specializing in the far-right media ecosystem-examine alt-right political capital in the form of memes: memorable pieces of media or rhetoric, including slogans and images, that can be recontextualized, tweaked, and built upon to spread ideas. Memes are bedrock to the strategy of the reactionary army of conspiracists such as Alex Jones, white nationalist influencers like Nick Fuentes, and countless other extremists. Organized and armed with these weapons of communication at their disposal, the alt-right has gained support at unprecedented speeds as the war of disinformation wages on without Donald J. Trump in office-or on Twitter.

With the narrative style of a political thriller, and the substance of a deeply-researched history, Drafted into the Meme Wars will be the most complete, and most timely, explanation of how Trump led his hoard into a revolution, and what it means for the future of American democracy, technology, and all of us.