Lavin, who is Jewish and the grandchild of Holocaust survivors,[3] became motivated to investigate the topic following white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, where "Jews will not replace us!"

[6][7] Lavin invented online personae, which allowed her to gain entry to white supremacist websites and chatrooms, gathering information for journalists and anti-fascist activists.

The book describes these present-day encounters while also tracing “the distant and near history of the alt-right, from the medieval European blood libel to Henry Ford’s mainstreaming of anti-Semitic ideas to Gamergate and the stories of a radicalized adolescent YouTuber.”[3] Publishers Weekly called the book a "bracing and wide-ranging look at the internet as a breeding ground for racism and misogyny.

"[6] Kirkus gave Culture Warlords a starred review[8] and USA Today named it number one in the “hottest new book releases” for the week it was published.

"[10] In her review for the Boston Globe, Kate Tuttle notes that while other books treat similar material, Lavin's work "feels particularly insightful, perhaps because she understands so deeply both the modern idiom in which these bigots operate today and their historic roots in race science, eugenics, and anti-Semitism.