The Populist Delusion Paperback – April 20, 2022

The book is a needed corrective to post-war consensus ideology. The book (along with the author's excellent podcast) helped cure me of many of my overly idealistic libertarian delusions.

Want to know why Trump has come in like a whirlwind, firing federal employees, and upending federal agencies? Read this book!

I'm giving this book 5 stars because it's filled with obscure names and obscure knowledge, and I'm a sucker for such. Plus, he mentions Curtis Yarvin - which I never thought I'd read in a book. lolWith that said, his theory suffers a serious semantical flaw.'Only a new elite can throw out an old elite'The people throwing out an 'old elite' aren't 'elite' until they've thrown out the old.Which means they weren't 'elite' upon starting the process. Or they would have been part of the original group.He could have made it true by saying 'average people can't overthrow an elite without special people working them up and leading them to do so' - but then he would have suffered from everyone saying, "duh".

Incisively written and cogently argued, Parvini artfully distills a realpolitik from the Italian Elite Theorists and those influenced by their ideas to equip the reader with the tools required to understand the world as it is and not as it ought to be. Divorced from any notion of dogmatic ideology, the author's clear-eyed analysis is at once both disconcerting and refreshing for the seeker of truth.The layout of current affairs is bleak, but far from a complete nihilistic interpretation of political affairs, Parvini outlines several weaknesses in the fabric of the Cathedral that those on the dissident right might exploit to once again return to a healthy circulation of elites; those elites who have the skill, courage, and moral fortitude to once again champion the cause of the common man.

If you want to understand the logic of not liking democracy and or not believing in it as it's defined this book is a good start.Also I get a felling it's heavily influenced by James Burnahms the machiavellians. This is a good book to read before this book.I only gave it 4 stars because he started to hint towards conspiracys about global elites and personaly I don't think it's a productive thing to put in a book that seems to try to convince people about a political fact. Whether there is a global cabal or not there's not very solid prof so I personal don't care to hear about when I'm reading a book about the delusion of populism.I would also like to have heard about the atrocities and wrongs committed in the name of populism, I believe that would have been more useful to the argument then any othere sort of convincing.Over all I'd definitely buy it

A well written, concise book. Makes the point without wasting words. It offers useful analytical tools with a ray of hope at the end. I only wish it offered more than a hope but I suppose it is up to all of us to figure out a way forward. If we don’t, I fear the Humanity will perish.

Sequential in it's analysis of elite control of society and dismantles the illusion of populism in modern society. Very insightful.

Neema Parvini has produced a valuable work which provides a readable summary of key thinkers in the Italian elite theory tradition. This is a timely work, given the populist moment we are in, and these political philosophers are more relevant than ever. Well worth the purchase price for eliminating the need to actually try to read Vilfredo Pareto.