FASCISM COMES TO AMERICA

An examination of the meaning of fascism and the misapplications of the term.

In the eyes of different beholders, fascism has many variant meanings. A Stalinist might call anyone who disagreed with his ideology a fascist; a liberal-leaning reporter might call an ambitious, right-leaning politician a fascist; and countless observers might call Donald Trump a fascist. The concept of fascism, writes emeritus American history professor Kuklick, “belongs in a category of what may be designated the ‘less than cognitive’ in that it does not so much refer to anything that exists as it accomplishes disapproval.” It’s hardly news that fascism is a term that has been used rather loosely to indicate something bad; one could just as well pen a monograph on socialism that would arrive at the same point. The author shores up an argument that hardly needs support with a survey of political rhetoric, popular entertainment, and punditry. There are some interesting asides that could use greater elaboration: Kuklick’s linkage, for example, of the development of Mussolini’s canonical brand of fascism with the psychology of William James, to say nothing of the support for Italian fascism expressed by so many American intellectuals in the 1920s. However, the author works subjects that hardly require working. It should come as no surprise to any historically minded reader that the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup “began the portrayal of Mussolini-like leaders as clownish” or that Charles Lindbergh ran with bad company by hanging out with the likes of Hermann Goering and other Nazis. In the end, Kuklick’s don’t-worry musings seem overly sanguine in a time when the Capitol can be invaded by people wearing “Camp Auschwitz” T-shirts and self-identified fascists and White nationalists are in power in places such as Hungary, Italy, and the U.S.

The author makes some good points, but the book is an arid exercise that delivers too little in too many words.