Starred review from October 15, 2023
A history of America's admirers and enablers of the Third Reich, from fellow travelers in Congress to Nazi spies and other enemies of democracy. Politicians espousing civil war. Radio hosts howling about the liberal domination of culture. Militias training to hunt down Jews, leftists, and Democrats. If it all sounds like a run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, there's a reason. As MSNBC host Maddow demonstrates in this sharp-edged history, the fascist strain in America runs deep. The author opens her contextually rich narrative with George Sylvester Viereck, whose 1907 novel, The House of the Vampire, "is seen today by precisely no one as the world's greatest gay vampire fiction," though it certainly was a pioneer of the genre. The German-born Viereck was also a Nazi agent who dispensed money to pro-Hitler publications, many of whose talking points found their way into the mouths of politicians on Capitol Hill. Fascists pinned great hopes on Huey Long, who "ran Louisiana like a mob boss," but who was assassinated before he could exercise national power. Calvin Coolidge was a milquetoast president; however, as Maddow shows, within his administration were strong anti-immigration advocates, some of whose policies were adopted by the Nazis in Germany. Well-known supporters of fascism included Father Charles Coughlin, who mixed anti-New Deal fervor with antisemitism. "We want strong men," said one militant acolyte. "Men to fight for America's destiny and link it with the destiny of Adolf Hitler, the greatest philosopher since the time of Christ." Frightening current-day parallels aside, a web of patriots rose to battle the fascists, taking down the most prominent pro-Nazis, even if many of their elected officials lived on to battle civil rights and other progressive causes. America beat fascism once. Maddow's timely study of enemies on the homefront urges that we can do so again.
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November 13, 2023
Homegrown American fascism sprouted in the 1930s and was taken down by patriotic spies and prosecutors, according to this labyrinthine history. MSNBC news host Maddow (Drift) surveys New Deal–era right-wing extremism, including the Silver Shirt movement headed by screenwriter, spiritualist, and Hitler admirer William Dudley Pelley; California’s American White Guard, some of whose members plotted to steal machine guns, assassinate prominent Hollywood Jews, and carry out a pogrom; and the Christian Front, an antisemitic group that undertook paramilitary training for a fascist insurrection. Maddow traces these organizations’ intersections with mainstream figures, including the antisemitic radio preacher Fr. Charles Coughlin and industrialist Henry Ford. There were also ties to Nazi Germany, she contends, especially in the propaganda operation of George Viereck, a German American Nazi agent who worked with New York congressman Hamilton Fish, Minnesota senator Ernest Lundeen, and other isolationists to use their congressional free mailing privileges to send pro-German, antiwar propaganda to millions of Americans. Also spotlighted are antifascist activists like Leon Lewis, a Jewish lawyer who ran a private spy ring that infiltrated the White Guard. Maddow explores this snake pit in vivid and decidedly opinionated prose, but she overstates the coherence of American fascist movements, all of whose schemes fizzled, while her inclusion of a chapter on populist Huey Long feels out of step with the rest. The result is a lively if not always convincing account of an ugly strand in American political history.
Starred review from October 15, 2023
The country and the world have been here before, flirting with fascism, eyeing autocracy. In the prelude to WWII, Hitler's rise to power was predicated on keeping the U.S. out of Europe's war. That was going to take more than der F�hrer's fiery rhetoric; it was going to take a concerted effort to sow discord in the U.S., via covert and overt sympathizers spreading disinformation, undermining institutions, and . . . sound familiar? As Maddow first disclosed in her acclaimed podcast, Ultra, operatives at high levels of official and grassroots American political, religious, and military organizations promoted Nazi principles and fomented antisemitism, ultimately hoping to overthrow the government. Fortunately, then, as now, honorable individuals risked their careers and lives to disclose and prosecute such plots before they could be realized. There's a focused awe in discovering something historic that has contemporary relevance, and Maddow's sublime research into the precursors of current existential threats is astonishingly deep. She finds rabbit holes even rabbits are unaware of, conveying her wonderment with a jaunty "hey, look at this" enthusiasm. Yet for all her geeky ardor, there is a countervailing solemnity. Maddow wants her audience to pay attention, for failing to do so is to repeat history's close calls, or worse.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Maddow has a substantial audience as a best-selling writer, top podcaster, and Emmy-winning host of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, and her new book, which reaches far beyond the Ultra podcast, couldn't be more timely and relevant.
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