I finished up Kurt Schlichter’s underwhelming book, ‘The Attack‘, this morning while waiting on a gaggle of Amish girls at the downtown Fort Wayne library. What a straight up silly book, made worse by being rushed and ruining an interesting premise. Below is my review I left on Goodreads:
The main thing to understand about ‘The Attack’ is that it is based on the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023 and ‘The Attack’ was published on January 8th, 2024. Considering Thanksgiving and Christmas are in the middle, he put together a book and had it written and published in about three months. You can tell it was rushed to print while the event was still fresh when you are reading it.
Despite giving the book 5 stars to annoy liberals, it is a pretty silly story. The basic premise is a massive Islamic terror attack on America that takes place over three days and involves around 10,000 Muslim terrorists that infiltrated the U.S. via the wide open southern border. It leaves behind over 100,000 U.S. casualties and the book is written from the perspective of people being interviewed about the events years after the event, in a sort of “World War Z” style (I didn’t really care for ‘World War Z’ to be honest).
Kurt is what I would classify as a normiecon, people that have a conservative to libertarian political framework that is still mostly stuck in the 1980s and have never really caught up with political reality. He is still pretty rah-rah ‘Murica and thinks that most Americans are still the same sort of people that lived here last century. Normiecons like Kurt still think that Israel is our friend and ally in the Middle East while at the same time Israel does more to influence and corrupt our elections and political system than every other country on Earth combined. That comes across in the book as well.
Most of the writing is normiecon conservative talking points very loosely crammed into various narratives. It generally doesn’t work because pretty much every person being “interviewed” is in the same voice. Kurt occasionally throws in a phrase that is intended to sound like the person described but then goes right back into heroic, patriotic Americans saying the same thing in the same way, over and over.
Is Joe Biden a doddering old fool that should be in a retirement home rather than running the U.S.? Of course he is. Is Kamala Harris a flat out moron, unqualified for any government job more important that collecting tolls on the Jersey Turnpike, someone who literally slept her way into politics? Most definitely. Is Mike Johnson, the current Speaker of the House, the noble and selfless public servant he is made out to be, even though he isn’t named? Hell no. Pretty much every fictional character interviewed says the same things about Kamala and the southern border and the book itself is basically conservative revenge porn where everything people like Kurt have been warning about happens and everything he thinks would fix America happens in response.
The bad guys are cartoonish. Kurt mentions rape at least 30 times, both in the terror attack on America and in Israel even though those reports turned out to be wildly exaggerated, like the baby in the oven thing. He brings up the “72 virgins” for martyrs at least a dozen times. Don’t get me wrong, Hamas are animals, some of the worst people every to walk the earth, but then again Israel has also killed something like ten times as many Palestinian civilians as Israelis were killed on October 7th, using weapons provided by the good ol’ U. S. of A. There are no good guys in that conflict. It’s a poorly written, damnably silly story.
There are positives. Kurt brings up some very interesting questions and a more thoughtful treatment of the subject could have made for a really great story, instead of a story slapped together and rushed out in three months while people still remembered October 7th. The fact remains that America’s border is wide open but the real threat isn’t an army of 10,000 Islamic terrorists but the tens of millions of mestizo illegal aliens who are living here, absorbing billions in social services, education, medical care, etc and procreating a new “American” populace. Our infrastructure is terribly vulnerable. Half of the country hates the other half and the first half is made up of a bunch of people that hate each other, just a little less than they hate normal Americans. With a more skilled writer and a less rushed story, ‘The Attack’ could have been great.
I am re-reading The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Plutarch’s Lives. I will stick to that for now.
Those are serious books. This one was not.
Normiecon lit is in many ways even more mind rotting than the crap liberals vomit out: at least the latter doesn’t serve as an opiate for many on our side.
By the way, Arthur, how’s your NY resolution to read more non fiction going?
Two non-fiction down for the year, working on another.
If you want to read something quick but worthwhile, try Rudyard Kipling’s short story “The Mother Hive.” Though it’s over 100 years old, its basically about our current situation told in an allegory about a beehive.
I’ll see if I can track that one down
I read some of Kurt’s opinion pieces way back, and got the same impression – total normiecon just regurgitating normiecon talking points with a little “current event” thing thrown in to make today’s post just a little different from yesterday’s post. That and constantly shilling whatever new book he had out. After a few weeks, I got tired of the constant repetition and haven’t read anything from him since. Can’t imagine any of his books are worth the time.
I put him in the same category as Matt Walsh, a false edginess that still colors within the lines. It is unimaginative but has broad appeal for normies and that has allowed both of them to make a nice living from spoon feeding normies pablum.
Quite a few people find the Walshes and Schlichters of the world, and then continue down the path to where quite a few of your readers are now.
Lots of drivel; perhaps a necessary stepping stone on the path?
I’ll accept my shame here. I’ve bought a couple of Kurt’s books. They were mindless then. Seems his formula still works.
1. Write Pro Hamerican schlock.
2. Profit.
Thank you for your article Arthur!
In my earlier comment, where I talked about reading Solzhenitsyn and Plutarch. I would rather read from great minds, or about those who built great Civilizations, in place of those who tore them down. Plus now reading is racist. To borrow from Shakespeare’s Henry V. “If to covet Honor is a sin, then I am the most offensive soul alive”. “If to covet intelligence is racist, then I am the offensive soul alive”.
Yup, Kurt was on the Right, now the Right has moved past him. Normiecon is perfect.
Kurt is a Jew and clearly favors Israel, right or wrong. He is unaware or does not wish to surface how the 07Oct23 attack on Israel was a result of a deliberate stand down, or complicity, on the part of IDF, to have an excuse for the US and its lackey state of Israel to open a Mideast conflict in an election year. Quite disgusting.
Arthur, I do not know if I am typing into the ether or whether this comment will attract your notice.
I am responding to your Book Review.
I have read “The Attack” several times already, and passed it on to a few selected people.
The negative comments on the book range from the author being a Jewish normiecon, ignoring the obvious (deliberate?) lapses in security on Oct. 07, etc., to its lacking the power and veritas of Solzhenitsyn or Shakespeare.
That “The Attack” is not great literature–in an Age wherein NO ONE is penning great literature–does not, IMO, detract from my appreciation of the book.
“The Attack” has ‘shock value’ and might shake/wake up a few citizens who have had trouble connecting the dots of unrestricted illegal alien incursion into our Nation + FedGov aiding & abetting same + an NWO desire to thin the ranks.
Primarily, though, I do not see ANYONE ELSE sounding the alarm in such a way as to prod The Unproddable to get off their dumb asses, prep, acquire a firearm, get some training and stop being sheeple.
I confess that, having been a prepper for decades, I enjoy a quick read of the ‘schlock jock’ type that the author has provided; I read disheartening articles all the time, and watching the Suicide-by-FedGov that is our current state of being, depletes me more than I wish to admit.
So, unabashedly, I will probably re-read “The Attack” at least once more, then give it to a few neighbors too.
Because, no one is coming to save us…….
Since its publication less than a year ago perhaps another 1-2M illegal aliens have crossed over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYTtloMGIds (at 0.49 sec).
They are NOT here to pick our crops. When men migrate to make a better life for their families they BRING their families. When they come to make war, they come ALONE.
In fact, despite your derision, I will go out on a limb to suggest that “The Attack” be given a chance to be read & discussed by your readership. Think of it as an assigned book report.
I will, without shame, continue to recommend “The Attack” to friends, family and associates, until such time that, a. a better wake-up call comes along or, b. I write one myself.
As always, Arthur, I appreciate your hosting of “Dissident Thoughts.”