The Beginnings of Wokeness

About a month before the release of his new book, The Origins of Woke, Richard Hanania’s secret past as a hard-right, pseudonymous writer for overtly racist publications was exposed by the Huffington Post. Hanania copped to it right away and condemned his former views, commenting on why he abandoned them. But it would seem the damage was done. It was obviously a targeted attempt to torpedo his book, and the story couldn’t be more perfectly suited in the age of cancel culture to sink a project criticizing over-zealous civil rights law. Moreover, Hanania’s “very online” persona has him regularly trampling over the decent lines of civil conversation, so some may not be so willing to give the book the benefit of the doubt.