I've been writing a book about anti-fascism in American politics and culture for the last couple of years. That means I've been reading a pile of books about fascism as I've tried to unpack the history of how the term has been defined by people across the political spectrum. I also pay attention when I see the word being used in contemporary political conversation. What I'd noticed until this year was that the most common uses of the F-word have been applied by right-wing activists who apply it to Obama, or by U.S. presidents to describe international leaders whom they are proposing as targets of military force. The mainstream and center left has been more cautious with the word, particularly after MoveOn was attacked in the media in 2004 for an individual's entry of an anti-G.W. Bush ad that compared him to Hitler.
Thus I'm struck by the references to Donald Trump as a fascist that have appeared not only in left quarters, but in comments and analyses by centrists.. An actual democratic party candidate tweeted that Trump was running for president as a Fascist Demagogue. Vox interviewed five major scholars on generic fascism (which seeks to define fascism by identifying similarities across multiple countries and political parties) and they seem to agree that Trump is not a fascist. But the question of whether Trump is a fascist or a right-wing nationalist, or a Bonapartist, all relate to questions not just about fascism, but about the history of far-right politics in the U.S. more generally. So, today's reading recommendations are for anyone looking for a quick primer on right-wing nationalism, the Christian ultra-right, and fascism.
Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism. This book is an ideal introduction to the subject of generic fascism. It is short, comprehensive and extremely well-written. It also has copious, helpful footnotes and a good bibliography.
Chip Berlet and Matthew Lyons, Right Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. This is an older book that was the culmination of years of work by an activist-research team dedicated to explaining and combating US right-wing nationalists and fascists. Berlet has been an active anti-fascist researcher since the mid-1970s whe began doing research on Lyndon LaRouche.
Are you concerned about Christian evangelical activists and whether they are fascists? Check out Sara Diamond, Roads to Dominion. It traces the history of the religious right back to the McCarthy era.
If you have a strong stomach, Leonard Zeskind's massive tome, Blood and Politics covers U.S. neo-Nazis and militia activists from the 1960s to close to the present in scrupulous detail. Zeskind, like Berlet, is a longtime independent activist researcher who follows the contemporary militant far-right.
Fiction:
The classic book by Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here was published in 1935 at a time when many in America were concerned about the threat of fascism not only because of events in Italy and Germany, but because of demagogues on the domestic right who endorsed and supported Hitler. Lewis was friends with Leon M. Birkhead, a leading opponent of Gerarld Winrod, known in his time as the Jayhawk Nazi and was married to Dorothy Thompson, an American journalist who was an outspoken critic of Nazi Germany.
Frederic C. Rich's recent Christian Nation is an homage to Lewis; a speculative counter-history that imagines what would happen under a Palin presidency. Some of the characterization is a bit wooden, but this is probably the most thoroughly imagined fictional scenario of a dystopia in the U.S. based on research on the contemporary Christian Right.
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale also concerns right wing religious radicalism, and is a modern classic for a good reason. The link above goes to an audiobook read by Claire Danes. How marvelous!
Thus I'm struck by the references to Donald Trump as a fascist that have appeared not only in left quarters, but in comments and analyses by centrists.. An actual democratic party candidate tweeted that Trump was running for president as a Fascist Demagogue. Vox interviewed five major scholars on generic fascism (which seeks to define fascism by identifying similarities across multiple countries and political parties) and they seem to agree that Trump is not a fascist. But the question of whether Trump is a fascist or a right-wing nationalist, or a Bonapartist, all relate to questions not just about fascism, but about the history of far-right politics in the U.S. more generally. So, today's reading recommendations are for anyone looking for a quick primer on right-wing nationalism, the Christian ultra-right, and fascism.
Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism. This book is an ideal introduction to the subject of generic fascism. It is short, comprehensive and extremely well-written. It also has copious, helpful footnotes and a good bibliography.
Chip Berlet and Matthew Lyons, Right Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. This is an older book that was the culmination of years of work by an activist-research team dedicated to explaining and combating US right-wing nationalists and fascists. Berlet has been an active anti-fascist researcher since the mid-1970s whe began doing research on Lyndon LaRouche.
Are you concerned about Christian evangelical activists and whether they are fascists? Check out Sara Diamond, Roads to Dominion. It traces the history of the religious right back to the McCarthy era.
If you have a strong stomach, Leonard Zeskind's massive tome, Blood and Politics covers U.S. neo-Nazis and militia activists from the 1960s to close to the present in scrupulous detail. Zeskind, like Berlet, is a longtime independent activist researcher who follows the contemporary militant far-right.
Fiction:
The classic book by Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here was published in 1935 at a time when many in America were concerned about the threat of fascism not only because of events in Italy and Germany, but because of demagogues on the domestic right who endorsed and supported Hitler. Lewis was friends with Leon M. Birkhead, a leading opponent of Gerarld Winrod, known in his time as the Jayhawk Nazi and was married to Dorothy Thompson, an American journalist who was an outspoken critic of Nazi Germany.
Frederic C. Rich's recent Christian Nation is an homage to Lewis; a speculative counter-history that imagines what would happen under a Palin presidency. Some of the characterization is a bit wooden, but this is probably the most thoroughly imagined fictional scenario of a dystopia in the U.S. based on research on the contemporary Christian Right.
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale also concerns right wing religious radicalism, and is a modern classic for a good reason. The link above goes to an audiobook read by Claire Danes. How marvelous!
Philip Roth's The Plot Against America is a counter-historical narrative: Lindbergh is elected president, makes an alliance with Hitler, and antisemitism becomes part of the American way of life.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I did think about including that one, but then decided to go with books I had read. That's been on my TBR list for a long time. Maybe this will be the year.
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