My book begins with the Nihilist Manifesto, which is a brief statement to the world expressing the emotional and intellectual sentiment behind the effort. Next, I define and explain the basic elements of Nihilism, breaking apart the 'political' branch (Nihilism) from the common philosophical branch with the generic label nihilism. With this introductory context I set out to describe Nihilism in living situations, what it signifies and where it can take us.
In the next chapter I target the top culprits afflicting us both in mind and body - the ailments of culture and belief, and then I deliver a rough attempt at envisioning a new world after the seeds of Nihilism have been planted and grown.
After that I step back a bit and describe some steps people can take to seize the abstract ideas of nihilism and start to turn them into concrete actions as a way of life, detailing some of the reasons for it and the inevitable conflicts with dominant cultural values.
Next up is an around-the-world tour of religions and beliefs that reveal the crazy and malevolent forces they really are, explaining why people believe and what they get out of it, how you can respond to it, and how you can overcome it.
Historical Nihilism is all about the characters and events of active revolutionary nihilism, focusing on the Russians of the 19th century. The point is to highlight that Nihilism is not abstract or irrelevant but real and with major impact, then and again today. After that we travel to the United States to dismantle the common myths and stories that pervade the culture, and attack the economic and political powers holding up a corrupt establishment. That easily transitions into the realm of money where I explain what that seemingly simple thing really is in practice, and spell out where capitalism's rulers are taking us all, and to highlight some of the people who are fighting back along with the tools we can use to help.
On the topic of diseased institutions comes the military, where it's not enough to be anti-war, you have to start being anti-military to have any hope of seeing how we can get out of this prison of death.
After that review of a dour past and present I wanted to write about a topic that has come up in discussions with many people in order to try and explain what relevance Nihilism has to everyday life and the family. What do we need to live? How should we form family and community? Does it really matter? This isn't a rule-book more than it is some thoughtful examples and helpful ideas.
Next comes the apex of it all, the total review of Nihilism and most everything else I have thought about and considered and used to build the book and the worldview that you have been reading about. What is life? Where did we come from? What is 'meaning' and what are values?
I wanted to include additional sections of some interesting people and this is where you'll read about some famous nihilists, who they were and what they did. You'll also encounter some mind-expanding artwork and I tell you about the interesting artists behind the art. Next, the 'Beyond' section is a collection of articles I wrote over many years where I touch on a variety of topics and I included them in my book to try and elucidate some key topics like nationalism, race, voting, mathematics, chaos, and more.
That's a brief synopsis of my book on Nihilism. It's available in three versions, the original paperback, a paperback version in Spanish, and the latest version in hardcover. I highly recommend getting the hardcover book, not because it costs more (it doesn't really earn me any more money after printing costs) but because that version has been more thoroughly refined and edited and it's a more durable format that will last you longer.
The text in my website reflects the hardcover book version, however several chapters are only available in the book and the CounterOrder site contains multimedia and Internet resources unavailable elsewhere.