How Fascism Works

More about the book

As a scholar of philosophy and propaganda and the child of refugees of World War II Europe, the author has a deep understanding that democratic societies, including the United States, can be vulnerable to fascism. In this book, he focuses on fascist politics - the language and beliefs that separate people into an "us" and a "them." The author knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations, making clear the immense dangers of what he identifies as the ten pillars of fascist politics. By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent in the twenty-first century as ever, the author reveals that the stuff of politics - rhetoric and myth - can become policy and reality all too quickly. Only by recognizing them, the author argues, can we begin to resist their most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals. -- Back cover