Hard Right : Muscular Rhetoric and the New Nationalism

Casey Ryan Kelly

ISBN 10: 0814259936 / ISBN 13: 9780814259931

Published by Univ Of Chicago Behalf Of Ohio State UP Aug 2026, 2026

About this Item

Neuware - A groundbreaking examination of far-right rhetoric around fitness and the human body and how such rhetoric serves white nationalist, masculinist aims. In recent years, far-right, white-nationalist groups in the US have churned out streams of discourse glorifying 'muscularity' as the ideal masculine form. This preoccupation with physical fitness-along with expressed fears of declining testosterone levels in men, race-mixing, and transgender women-all reveal the masculine bodily fantasies and anxieties that underwrite the political unconscious of the far right. In Hard Right, Casey Ryan Kelly examines the link between extreme fitness culture and fascist organizations, arguing that the human body operates as a privileged signifier of national belonging in the rhetoric of the far right. Drawing from psychoanalytic theory, Kelly shows that far-right rhetoric constructs fantasies of recovering the 'natural' or primal masculine body. These fantasies are frequently accompanied by anxieties about 'soft,' disabled, and ambiguously gendered bodies, all of which are seen as signs of degeneracy that must be transformed, exiled, or eradicated for the sake of national and racial health. Through its examination of 'Red Pill' fitness influencers, 'bro science' conspiracy theories, far-right podcasts, and more, Hard Right ultimately shows how the cultural logics of men's health and physical fitness converge with the political logics of white nationalism and late fascism.

Seller Inventory # 9780814259931

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Hard Right : Muscular Rhetoric and the New Nationalism
• Publisher: Univ Of Chicago Behalf Of Ohio State UP Aug 2026
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814259936
• ISBN 13: 9780814259931
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 12D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 12 millimeters depth
• Weight: 284 grams

About this title

Synopsis

A groundbreaking examination of far-right rhetoric around fitness and the human body and how such rhetoric serves white nationalist, masculinist aims.

In recent years, far-right, white-nationalist groups in the US have churned out streams of discourse glorifying “muscularity” as the ideal masculine form. This preoccupation with physical fitness—along with expressed fears of declining testosterone levels in men, race-mixing, and transgender women—all reveal the masculine bodily fantasies and anxieties that underwrite the political unconscious of the far right. In Hard Right, Casey Ryan Kelly examines the link between extreme fitness culture and fascist organizations, arguing that the human body operates as a privileged signifier of national belonging in the rhetoric of the far right.

Drawing from psychoanalytic theory, Kelly shows that far-right rhetoric constructs fantasies of recovering the “natural” or primal masculine body. These fantasies are frequently accompanied by anxieties about “soft,” disabled, and ambiguously gendered bodies, all of which are seen as signs of degeneracy that must be transformed, exiled, or eradicated for the sake of national and racial health. Through its examination of “Red Pill” fitness influencers, “bro science” conspiracy theories, far-right podcasts, and more, Hard Right ultimately shows how the cultural logics of men’s health and physical fitness converge with the political logics of white nationalism and late fascism.

About the Author

Casey Ryan Kelly is Professor of Rhetoric and Public Culture in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is the author of five books, including Caught on Tape: White Masculinity and Obscene Enjoyment and Apocalypse Man: The Death Drive and the Rhetoric of White Masculine Victimhood.