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Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning Hardcover – January 8, 2008

by Jonah Goldberg (Author)

831 customer reviews

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“Fascists,” “Brownshirts,” “jackbooted stormtroopers”—such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?

Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left, and that liberals from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler's National Socialism and Mussolini's Fascism.

Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National socialism”). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life. The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities—where campus speech codes were all the rage. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist.

Do these striking parallels mean that today’s liberals are genocidal maniacs, intent on conquering the world and imposing a new racial order? Not at all. Yet it is hard to deny that modern progressivism and classical fascism shared the same intellectual roots. We often forget, for example, that Mussolini and Hitler had many admirers in the United States. W.E.B. Du Bois was inspired by Hitler's Germany, and Irving Berlin praised Mussolini in song. Many fascist tenets were espoused by American progressives like John Dewey and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR incorporated fascist policies in the New Deal.

Fascism was an international movement that appeared in different forms in different countries, depending on the vagaries of national culture and temperament. In Germany, fascism appeared as genocidal racist nationalism. In America, it took a “friendlier,” more liberal form. The modern heirs of this “friendly fascist” tradition include the New York Times, the Democratic Party, the Ivy League professoriate, and the liberals of Hollywood. The quintessential Liberal Fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore.

These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of Liberal Fascism.

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this provocative and well-researched book, Goldberg probes modern liberalism's spooky origins in early 20th-century fascist politics. With chapter titles such as Adolf Hitler: Man of the Left and Brave New Village: Hillary Clinton and the Meaning of Liberal Fascism—Goldberg argues that fascism has always been a phenomenon of the left. This is Goldberg's first book, and he wisely curbs his wry National Review style. Goldberg's study of the conceptual overlap between fascism and ideas emanating from the environmental movement, Hollywood, the Democratic Party and what he calls other left-wing organs is shocking and hilarious. He lays low such lights of liberal history as Margaret Sanger, apparently a radical eugenicist, and JFK, whose cult of personality, according to Goldberg, reeks of fascist political theater. Much of this will be music to conservatives' ears, but other readers may be stopped cold by the parallels Goldberg draws between Nazi Germany and the New Deal. The book's tone suffers as it oscillates between revisionist historical analyses and the application of fascist themes to American popular culture; nonetheless, the controversial arc Goldberg draws from Mussolini to The Matrix is well-researched, seriously argued—and funny. (Jan. 8)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Brilliant, insightful, and important.” —New York Sun

“Well-researched, seriously argued, and funny.” —Publishers Weekly“Bold and witty… [Goldberg] makes a persuasive case that fascism was from the beginning a movement of the left.” —New York Post“Jonah Goldberg is the first historian to detail the havoc this spin of all spins has played upon Western thought for the past seventy-five years, very much including the present moment.” —Tom Wolfe

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Product details

Series: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (January 8, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385511841
ISBN-13: 978-0385511841
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.5 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 831 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #431,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #240 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Ideologies & Doctrines > Fascism
- #1255 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Ideologies & Doctrines > Conservatism & Liberalism
- #2902 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Political Science > History & Theory

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... and then began to realise the I was marking pretty much the whole book

ByGerard Caseyon October 4, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I started to underline relevant and important passages and then began to realise the I was marking pretty much the whole book! Delightful and devastating.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Highly recommended!!

ByAmazon Customeron May 22, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

It is unfortunate that this book has a cartoon on the cover, because to the casual browser it might look like a lightweight political screed. In fact, this is a serious work of scholarship that deserves a wide readership. To the open-minded student of the history of ideas, this book is mind-blowing. It wipes away, with solid evidence, the usual lazy beliefs about how today's leftists got to be that way. The intellectual connections between fascism, the progressivism of the Wilson era, and the leftism of today are well traced in this book. A lot of questions in my mind (such as, "how did liberals get to be so illiberal?") were answered.

0Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

The book makes a nice complement to Hayek's "Road to Serfdom

ByJoseph D. Kulisicson August 2, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The book makes a nice complement to Hayek's "Road to Serfdom." Hayek wrote his book as a warning to American and British readers. He wanted his audiences to understand the deep connections between totalitarianism and socialism and that the fascist movements of continental Europe were at heart, socialist projects.

Goldberg does a good job of uncovering the interplay of influences between American and European socialists and the forgotten history of fascism in America, and I think that he accidentally adds a new urgency to Hayek's arguments.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Goldberg will make you think

ByGiacomoon July 27, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Whatever your current thoughts on the political alignment and tendencies as currently constructed, Jonah Goldberg's detailed and painstakingly referenced historical review and analysis will make you reconsider. The simple early reclamation of the definition of fascism as it was understood at the time of its ascendancy shakes the secure foundation of your belief system. Read it, and then consider what we are now witnessing, with presidential executive actions and dictates substituting for the painstaking yet necessary machinations of representative democracy. Rahman Emanuel in 2009 famously said, " Never let a good crisis go to waste." You'll know after reading just how dangerous that sentiment is.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Historical must read!

ByAlexander Chardon October 23, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Treasure trove of historical information on the history of fascism in the United States. Twenty something pages of foot notes. Purchased audiobook also for a refresher while traveling. Cannot miss the distrubing similarities between the Wilson and Obama regimes. The foreign leaders to whom they feel a kinsmanship.

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

The Title Tells it All

Bylorancarlsonon July 25, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Excellent information within. Jonah did a masterful job of describing the new leftists with actual facts. Highly recommended to understand liberals.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Great Liberals on Parade

ByT. Shawon December 5, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Wow! This is a great review of the history of bigger members of the "great liberal" club. Amazing how they've been on the wrong side of history, if only more people knew.

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Enlightening history that shows how little our educators of history ...

Bywalter kirbyon June 8, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Enlightening history that shows how little our educators of history know or care to admit. When your teachers lie or refuse to admit reality for generations, what kind of country results? Anyone who has eyes can observe today.