Doppelganger

In Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, noted leftist and activist Naomi Klein introduces readers to “Other Naomi,” which is how she has come to think of Naomi Wolf, her right-wing, fun-house-mirror double who she can’t seem to escape. After experiencing one too many in-person and online mixups between herself and Wolf, Klein wonders how Other Naomi, once a Rhodes Scholar and feminist media darling, transformed into a prominent voice in the alt-right, anti-vax landscape, becoming a fixture on Steve Bannon’s podcast and a proud member of the so-called War Room posse. She tumbles down the rabbit hole of “disaster doppelgangers” and “digital doubles,” turning to Hitchock and bell hooks and Freud, among others, in order to make sense of her situation. Klein’s writing is urgent as she dissects conspiracy theories hawked by wellness influencers, unpacks the influence of Nazis on autism research, and more—all while acknowledging the absurdity of her situation. She weaves cultural criticism with personal anecdotes and self-examination into a book that’s bold enough to propose that we will all someday emerge from the rubble of the crumbling world—it will just take reimagining, collective organizing, and ego annihilating. —Meg Zukin

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