How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “No single book is as relevant to the present moment.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen
“With unsettling insight and disturbing clarity, How Fascism Works is an essential guidebook to our current national dilemma of democracy vs. authoritarianism.”—Jelani Cobb, New Yorker staff writer
A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history—now with a new preface.
As a scholar of philosophy and propaganda and the child of refugees of WWII Europe, Jason Stanley has long understood that democratic societies, including the United States, can be vulnerable to fascism. In How Fascism Works, he identifies ten pillars of fascist politics—an appeal to the mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectualism, unreality, hierarchy, victimhood, law and order, sexual anxiety, favoring “the heartland,” and a dismantling of public goods and unions—that amount to an urgent diagnosis of the tactics right-wing politicians use to break down democracies and a critical lens on the current moment.
Stanley 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 language and beliefs that separate people into an “us” and a “them.” By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics—rhetoric and myth—can become policy and reality all too quickly. Only by recognizing them, he argues, can we begin to resist their most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals.

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Publishing Group
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 26, 2020
Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525511857
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525511854
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.17 x 0.54 x 7.95 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #3,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1 in Political Philosophy (Books) #2 in Fascism (Books) #24 in World History (Books)
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