Thanks for this review. I'm in the minority in that I don't find the book either a powerful, terrifying warning, nor tedious. I think it's one of the funniest books I've ever read, basically because it's so much fun to watch Spinrad, a man with plenty of "issues" himself (as you've detailed beautifully) getting inside Hitler's head (as he understood it) and staying there for 200 pages.
The one point where you lost me is the link between fascism and homosexuality. The evidence will always be anecdotal, since Hitler rubbed out Röhm and put the Nazi party squarely in the anti-gay camp. (I always understood that move to be necessary as part of Hitler's agreement with the Wehrmacht to get rid of the paramilitary wing of the party, but I'm no historian.)
I'll leave gauging the Nazi-gay nexus to others, although the anecdotes are more plentiful than just Röhm. Pretty much all the prewar French fascist intellectuals were gay. At one point all but one of the postwar European Neo-Nazi party leaders were pretty obviously gay. (Jean-Marie Le Pen was the exception.) And there's the exaggerated übermensch statues of Arno Breker ... there's proto-Nazi theorist Hans Blüher. The list goes on.
I'll juts point out I've been reading arguments on this topic for decades in the conservative press. (Here's just one recent example: http://renewamerica.com/columns/fischer/121021.) Wikipedia has labeled the idea a conservative Christian conspiracy theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Nazis_myth -- proof of where the liberal hivemind is as of today, if not previously. So I don't think you can dismiss the Nazi-gay nexus as an old leftist smear.
I'm hesitant to throw around the "gay" label on a lot of niche or dissident movements in general, for a few reasons.
I think these kinds of alternative communities/movements tend to attract people on the down-and-out in general. You're likely to find a much wider range of 'weirdos' at, say, a Warhammer event than anywhere else; not because 40K is inherently gay (or whatever) but because its' more open to the fringes.
Secondly, I think the Nazi's chose some very powerful, rightly ordered aesthetics, including celebrating masculinity & physical excellence. Pretty disordered people are sometimes attracted to parts of the good & true, which don't step on their personal issues. QED all the Nazi furry art - no seriously, its' so prima facie bizarre it's escaped containment at least a couple times.
Finally, I'd point out the primary political virtue in all times & places is loyalty: your personal hangups take 2nd place to your dependability in the battle line (metaphorical or otherwise). David Hackworth has an anecdote in "About Face" where a blackout drunk member of his Raider battalion tried to kill him with a pickaxe. The response was to lock up the pickaxes.
So I put this one under 'leftist slander which might be a little correct (maybe)'. Reminder: these people are our sworn enemies, & we have to default to filtering out their accusations to stay sane.
Yes, good points. And to rephrase the last bit: “The specific political distinctions to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy.” ;)
Heinrich Himmler on How Bolshevik Christianity Spreads Homosexuality and Hatred of Women...
“150 years ago someone at a Catholic university wrote a doctoral thesis with the title: “Does a woman have a soul?” From this the whole tendency of Christianity emerges: it is directed at the absolute destruction of women and at emphasizing the inferiority of women. The entire substance of the priesthood and of the whole of Christianity is, I am firmly convinced, an erotic union of men (Männerbund) for the erection and maintenance of this 2,000-year old Bolshevism.”
The Iron Dream is an eminently ambiguous novel... and you've captured this in this post.
Some reflections by me, then...
As noted The Iron Dream has something of a following among right-wingers. Kudos to Spinrad, then, for not unpublishing the novel for this. He has even put out a new edition in trade paperback format. The one I bought to have a copy of my own. Re Animus Press 2020.
The Iron Dream is a strong symbol beyond all the irony and "ways to read". Nothing can stop the archetype, not even liberal reviewers.
Heinlein, as noted, is a kind of fascist in the liberal eye. Yet Heinlein isn't anything like unpopular today. Quite the contrary.
In short, right-wing sf is heading for a new dawn.
Seeing the phrase "New Dawn" is funny here, cause Ian Stuart of Skrewdriver infamy wrote a sci-fi novella with that title about alien refugees taking over a planet and being defeated by a resistance group that's lost media now.
Probably the closest thing we could possibly have gotten to a 100% sincere version of The Iron Dream, but unfortunately it's almost certainly lost forever now.
Michael Crichton (to my knowledge) received light criticism over his novel “Rising Sun” due to the frank nature and handling on the subject of Japanese culture and it’s views on gaijin and Hāfu individuals (those of mixed Japanese ancestry) within their society. What was interesting to me having lived in Japan is that his insights were mostly on the money on these cultural attitudes.
Commodore Matthew C. Perry sailed into Tokyo with nine ships in March 1854 and forced Japan to enter into trade with the United States... Russia, Britain, France, and Holland used their fleets on several occasions to defeat and disarm the Japanese feudal domains that defied them.
The Black Dragon Society (Kyūjitai; 黑龍會; Shinjitai: 黒竜会, kokuryūkai), or the Amur River Society, was a prominent paramilitary, ultranationalist group in Japan. The Kokuryūkai was founded in 1901 by martial artist Uchida Ryohei as a successor to his mentor Mitsuru Tōyama's Gen'yōsha.
The purpose of the organization was to keep the Russian Empire North of the Amur River and out of East Asia.
Thanks for this review. I'm in the minority in that I don't find the book either a powerful, terrifying warning, nor tedious. I think it's one of the funniest books I've ever read, basically because it's so much fun to watch Spinrad, a man with plenty of "issues" himself (as you've detailed beautifully) getting inside Hitler's head (as he understood it) and staying there for 200 pages.
The one point where you lost me is the link between fascism and homosexuality. The evidence will always be anecdotal, since Hitler rubbed out Röhm and put the Nazi party squarely in the anti-gay camp. (I always understood that move to be necessary as part of Hitler's agreement with the Wehrmacht to get rid of the paramilitary wing of the party, but I'm no historian.)
I'll leave gauging the Nazi-gay nexus to others, although the anecdotes are more plentiful than just Röhm. Pretty much all the prewar French fascist intellectuals were gay. At one point all but one of the postwar European Neo-Nazi party leaders were pretty obviously gay. (Jean-Marie Le Pen was the exception.) And there's the exaggerated übermensch statues of Arno Breker ... there's proto-Nazi theorist Hans Blüher. The list goes on.
I'll juts point out I've been reading arguments on this topic for decades in the conservative press. (Here's just one recent example: http://renewamerica.com/columns/fischer/121021.) Wikipedia has labeled the idea a conservative Christian conspiracy theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Nazis_myth -- proof of where the liberal hivemind is as of today, if not previously. So I don't think you can dismiss the Nazi-gay nexus as an old leftist smear.
I'm hesitant to throw around the "gay" label on a lot of niche or dissident movements in general, for a few reasons.
I think these kinds of alternative communities/movements tend to attract people on the down-and-out in general. You're likely to find a much wider range of 'weirdos' at, say, a Warhammer event than anywhere else; not because 40K is inherently gay (or whatever) but because its' more open to the fringes.
Secondly, I think the Nazi's chose some very powerful, rightly ordered aesthetics, including celebrating masculinity & physical excellence. Pretty disordered people are sometimes attracted to parts of the good & true, which don't step on their personal issues. QED all the Nazi furry art - no seriously, its' so prima facie bizarre it's escaped containment at least a couple times.
Finally, I'd point out the primary political virtue in all times & places is loyalty: your personal hangups take 2nd place to your dependability in the battle line (metaphorical or otherwise). David Hackworth has an anecdote in "About Face" where a blackout drunk member of his Raider battalion tried to kill him with a pickaxe. The response was to lock up the pickaxes.
So I put this one under 'leftist slander which might be a little correct (maybe)'. Reminder: these people are our sworn enemies, & we have to default to filtering out their accusations to stay sane.
Yes, good points. And to rephrase the last bit: “The specific political distinctions to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy.” ;)
Heinrich Himmler on How Bolshevik Christianity Spreads Homosexuality and Hatred of Women...
“150 years ago someone at a Catholic university wrote a doctoral thesis with the title: “Does a woman have a soul?” From this the whole tendency of Christianity emerges: it is directed at the absolute destruction of women and at emphasizing the inferiority of women. The entire substance of the priesthood and of the whole of Christianity is, I am firmly convinced, an erotic union of men (Männerbund) for the erection and maintenance of this 2,000-year old Bolshevism.”
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/heinrich-himmler-on-how-bolshevik-christianity-spreads-homosexuality-and-hatred-of-women
The Iron Dream is an eminently ambiguous novel... and you've captured this in this post.
Some reflections by me, then...
As noted The Iron Dream has something of a following among right-wingers. Kudos to Spinrad, then, for not unpublishing the novel for this. He has even put out a new edition in trade paperback format. The one I bought to have a copy of my own. Re Animus Press 2020.
The Iron Dream is a strong symbol beyond all the irony and "ways to read". Nothing can stop the archetype, not even liberal reviewers.
Heinlein, as noted, is a kind of fascist in the liberal eye. Yet Heinlein isn't anything like unpopular today. Quite the contrary.
In short, right-wing sf is heading for a new dawn.
Seeing the phrase "New Dawn" is funny here, cause Ian Stuart of Skrewdriver infamy wrote a sci-fi novella with that title about alien refugees taking over a planet and being defeated by a resistance group that's lost media now.
Probably the closest thing we could possibly have gotten to a 100% sincere version of The Iron Dream, but unfortunately it's almost certainly lost forever now.
I'd love to see how 'Nicoll' would react to the technical, correct, & commonly used automotive terms 'turbocharger' & 'supercharger'.
Michael Crichton (to my knowledge) received light criticism over his novel “Rising Sun” due to the frank nature and handling on the subject of Japanese culture and it’s views on gaijin and Hāfu individuals (those of mixed Japanese ancestry) within their society. What was interesting to me having lived in Japan is that his insights were mostly on the money on these cultural attitudes.
Commodore Matthew C. Perry sailed into Tokyo with nine ships in March 1854 and forced Japan to enter into trade with the United States... Russia, Britain, France, and Holland used their fleets on several occasions to defeat and disarm the Japanese feudal domains that defied them.
The Black Dragon Society (Kyūjitai; 黑龍會; Shinjitai: 黒竜会, kokuryūkai), or the Amur River Society, was a prominent paramilitary, ultranationalist group in Japan. The Kokuryūkai was founded in 1901 by martial artist Uchida Ryohei as a successor to his mentor Mitsuru Tōyama's Gen'yōsha.
The purpose of the organization was to keep the Russian Empire North of the Amur River and out of East Asia.
JAPAN WAS ATTACKED FIRST.