A review by lifepluspreston
Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics by Elle Reeve

5.0

Black Pill by Elle Reeve--I've been fascinated by the alt right for awhile. The roots of that fascination are fairly close to home and have resulted in my reading quite a few books and taking in truly hundreds of hours (as a conservative estimate) of content diving into the conspiracies, strategies, and meming that undergirds QAnon, white nationalism, and similar movements. This book stands out in that space. It accepts as a given that folks reading it will have some idea of how the Internet works and memes spread and instead offers an unexpected look at the personalities behind the movements. One important thing this book does well is dive into the power struggle in the alt right, Richard Spencer's belittling of QAnon supporters, Unite the Right's philosophical disagreements with the admin of 8chan, and so on. Tonally, the story is told with a simultaneous deep dark humor and a push to not take these movements for granted. Two thumbs up.