Author(s): Naomi Klein

Biography

A personal trip into the uncanny Mirror World of our polarised culture, from the international bestselling author of The Shock Doctrine. What if you woke up one morning and found you'd acquired a double? Someone almost like you, and yet not you at all?

When Naomi Klein discovered that a woman who shared her first name, but had radically different, harmful views, was getting chronically mistaken for her, it seemed too ridiculous to take seriously. Then suddenly it wasn't. She started to find herself grappling with a distorted sense of reality, becoming obsessed with reading the threats on social media, the endlessly scrolling insults from the followers of her doppelganger. Why had her shadowy other gone down such an extreme path? Why was identity - all we have to meet the world - so unstable?

To find out, Klein decided to follow her double into a bizarre, uncanny mirror world- one of conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers and demagogue hucksters, where soft-focus wellness influencers make common cause with fire-breathing far right propagandists (all in the name of protecting 'the children'). In doing so, she lifts the lid on our own culture during this surreal moment in history, as we turn ourselves into polished virtual brands, publicly shame our enemies, watch as deep fakes proliferate and whole nations flip from democracy to something far more sinister.

This is a book for our age and for all of us; a deadly serious dark comedy which invites us to view our reflections in the looking glass. It's for anyone who has lost hours down an internet rabbit hole, who wonders why our politics has become so fatally warped, and who wants a way out of our collective vertigo and back to fighting for what really matters.

MATILDA BOOKSHOP REVIEW

I was shocked and dismayed to find that I had indeed mistaken Naomi Wolf for Naomi Klein! Klein dives deep into the right wing conspiracy world of Wolf and almost loses friends and loved ones in the process. A totally engaging and enlightening read giving an in depth look into how and why people turn to far right ideologies and conspiracy theories to gain notoriety and fame. The online world is a dark place and Klein has unfortunately been thrown into the darkness by a mistaken identity. Simon