A useful primer on political fascism, but less impressive as an introduction to Muslim thought.
A contentious debut critique of Islamism.
In his debut book, Foltney makes the argument that Islam isn’t a religion at all, and that it’s better understood as a form of fascism. He discusses the history of fascism, which includes concise but illuminating accounts of Nazi ideology, North Korean Stalinism, Soviet Communism, and Japanese militarism, identifying the key features common to all iterations. One of the principal strengths of this study is the care with which he distinguishes fascism from totalitarianism: the former includes the latter, he says, but also emphasizes pervasive propaganda, a dogmatic monopoly on political orthodoxy, and a toxic combination of faux populism and jingoistic nationalism. He goes on to note that fascism is driven by appeals to alienation and disenfranchisement at the level of race and nationality, rather than economic class, primarily. Foltney assesses some of the failures and triumphs of American strategy in combating Islamist terrorism and says that mainstream media disseminates falsehoods out of deference to “political correctness.” The author details what he sees as the illiberalism of Islamist doctrine and is especially strong when discussing Islamism’s oppression of women and intolerance for dissent. Although Islamism is the central subject of his critique, he provocatively avers that Roman Catholicism during the Middle Ages counts as politically fascistic, too. However, Foltney is less rigorous when discussing the whole of the Muslim faith and the Koran, which he too facilely reduces to political barbarism without offering a deep, searching analysis of primary texts. Also, his interpretation of religion seems more postulated than argued; it’s not entirely clear why tolerant, apolitical Christianity is deemed the model for religion, for example. The author sometimes undermines his otherwise careful analysis with strident, ad hominem rhetoric about “willingly ignorant” people on the left of the American political spectrum. Fascism is a term that’s used too promiscuously in contemporary political debate, typically as an imprecise synonym for authoritarianism; Foltney is to be commended for parsing its meaning. However, his failure to distinguish the Muslim religion from its violently political appropriation, or even seriously entertain the possibility of a distinction between the two, is disappointing.
A useful primer on political fascism, but less impressive as an introduction to Muslim thought.Pub Date: April 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5307-4405-3
Page Count: 286
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
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