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The Lost Cause
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The Lost Cause
book·Nov 14, 2023·
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Shop this book
The Lost Cause
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The Lost Cause
book
November 14, 2023
Wokeometer Rating
9Woke
0/10
Scale: 0 = not woke, 10 = maximally woke
TL;DR Verdict
The Lost Cause scores 9/10 for woke messaging by framing aggressive Green New Deal policies as unquestioned moral good while reducing conservative opponents to violent, grievance-driven extremists. Skip this one if you want story over partisan lecture.
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Detailed Analysis
The Lost Cause centers its entire premise on a near-future where aggressive Green New Deal-style climate mitigation—jobs guarantees, mass relocation of cities, solar projects, and welcoming climate refugees—is the unquestioned moral and practical good, while opposition comes exclusively from elderly 'Magas' (explicit stand-ins for MAGA supporters) who cling to red caps, grievances, huge vehicles, alternative news, and stockpiled AR-15s.
The protagonist Brooks Palazzo, orphaned by environmentalist parents and raised by an abusive MAGA grandfather, rejects his family legacy to join young activists thwarting sabotage of solar panels, lawfare against housing, and a January 6-style insurrection during a wildfire. Plot points like discovering a cellar of rifles and a Plute-funded propaganda novel blending Atlas Shrugged and The Turner Diaries directly frame traditional conservative elements as radicalizing threats to collective progress.
Key Factors
- Central premise frames climate denial and resistance as the domain of armed, grievance-driven elderly MAGA holdouts opposing solarpunk collective action
- Explicit political allegory with MAGA-coded villains, Jan 6 insurrection parallel, and Green New Deal as heroic momentum unstoppable even by right-wing leaders
- Author Cory Doctorow's activist framing in interviews and blurbs positions the story as resolving the 'losers of a just revolution' through progressive solidarity and direct action
Methodology: Each score synthesizes audience discourse, critic and aggregator reception, and press coverage — weighed against the work itself, not any single source.
Detailed BreakdownPro
Identity Politics & Racial Essentialism
Gender Ideology & LGBTQ+ Themes
DEI Casting & Representation Mandates
Preachiness & Message-First Agenda
Corporate & Creator Activism
See how this title scores across all 5 woke subcategories with detailed explanations.
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Is The Lost Cause Woke?
We've run a full content analysis on The Lost Cause and scored it 9/10 on the woke scale. Read our detailed breakdown above to see exactly what we found.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of woke content is in The Lost Cause?
Our analysis checks for themes like identity politics, race-swapping, gender ideology, environmental activism, anti-religious messaging, and other progressive agenda elements. The score breakdown above shows which specific categories were flagged and how heavily they factor into The Lost Cause's overall score.
Is The Lost Cause family-friendly?
Wokeometer focuses on ideological content rather than traditional ratings (violence, language, etc.). For a full picture, combine our woke analysis with the official content ratingto decide if it's right for your family.
How does Wokeometer score books?
We evaluate media across multiple ideological categories on a 0–10 scale. Scores of 0–3 mean story-first, 4–6 have moderate elements, and 7–10 flag heavily agenda-driven content. Learn more about our methodology →