Together We Walk Towards the Fire

A chronicle of the cultural and political explosion of the alt-right media-industrial complex, spearheaded by Breitbart News, and how it helped fuel Donald Trump's rise and will set the agenda and provide the tactics of the populist-nationalist right for the foreseeable future.

In the last decade, over a series of elections defined, if not decided, by the media, there was one organization that mattered more than all the rest: Breitbart News. Founded in 2007 by Andrew Breitbart, a mile-a-minute talker with no boundaries and a sharp sense of humor, Breitbart News emerged as a formidable voice in the ?conservative blogosphere.? Its targets were liberal culture, the mainstream media, and out-of-touch, double-chinned conservatives; its tactic was to promote divisive content. But with the emergence of Donald Trump during the 2016 primary campaign, Breitbart News became the key propaganda organ for the candidate and a vanguard of a global nationalist wave.

Together We Walk Towards the Fire is the story of how Breitbart helped Trump's populist, nationalist movement overtake Republican politics. Rosie Gray reveals how Andrew Breitbart, mentored by the likes of Matt Drudge and Arianna Huffington, went on to create a successful media company and was poised to use his site's growing power to influence the 2012 election. Then he died. Enter Steve Bannon, who deliberately and skillfully seized control and oversaw the site's rise to global importance during Obama's second term?a strategy he built upon in 2016 to propel a rising demagogue, reshape the American right, and redefine the role of media in politics and culture. And Gray takes the story further, showing how after Trump was elected, the alt-right media landscape only got more toxic and conspiratorial-minded, leading up to the Stop the Steal attacks of January 6.

The mainstream media once dismissed Breitbart News as a distasteful repository for conspiracy theories and inflammatory content. But demonstrated by its reach and influence, what Breitbart became?and gave birth to?cannot be taken seriously enough today. Equal parts activist organization and media group, it has now seized the power to drive news stories, push the limits of public discussion, and rally its rabid fan-base. Together We Walk Towards the Fire is an eye-opening look at media and politics that lays out the future of journalism and the fate of the American conservative movement.