An important book about the most significant threat to global democracy.
A historian of fascist movements encourages us to use "the f-word" when describing contemporary far-right populist leaders.
During his career, Finchelstein, author of A Brief History of Fascist Lies, has focused his research on the tendency of right-wing populism to escalate into full-blown fascism. The author’s concern is both personal and professional. He was born in Argentina as that nation descended into "gruesome dictatorship.” In November 2020, he authored a prescient Washington Post op-ed that warned readers about a possible coup attempt in the U.S. With this cautionary perspective, Finchelstein describes a new breed of politician willing to destroy democracy for short-term political gain: the "wannabe fascist." He makes a strong case that Trumpism is a new chapter in the history of antidemocratic politics, drawing on research and scholarship into the histories of fascism and populism. He zeroes in on a few key elements of fascism, including political violence and the militarization of politics; lies and propaganda; xenophobia; and dictatorship. In his sobering analysis, features of Trumpism seem eerily reminiscent of past fascist history. Trump's cries of "witch hunt" echo fascist warrior-martyr tropes, and social media outlets provide him with what historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat calls “a direct channel to the people.” Furthermore, Trump's comments on the "infection" of immigrants reflect classic fascism's need for "mortal enemies" and their dehumanization. Similarly, the GOP's blithe enabling of Trumpism recalls earlier apathetic responses to the rise of Mussolini and Hitler. In an epilogue, Finchelstein considers whether the world is on the cusp of a deep shift into fascism, assessing the global potential for a destruction of democracies from within. He implores readers "to learn from history to gain an understanding of the fascist dangers of the present,” and he provides a cogent user's manual for making those vital connections.
An important book about the most significant threat to global democracy.Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9780520392496
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Univ. of California
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0061965588
Page Count: 772
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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