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

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning | Jonah Goldberg | A review of "Liberal Fascism"

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Liberal Fascism: T...

	Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning Jonah Goldberg Doubleday, 2008 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 354 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Everyone must read this book!

After getting a BA in political science I can tell you that I had to sit through a professor drawing a line on the chalk board and saying "socialism in on the left and fascism is on the right" every semester and in every class. Now it never made sense to me (when exactly do libertarians, arguably the most conservative main stream party on the right, make the jump from as little government as possible to fascism??), but at the time I didn't really have the facts (or the courage) to challenge it. This book answers all of the questions I had about this issue and then some. Yes, the author has a point of view. Yes, he passionately believes in his "preconceived notion of reality." Can anyone point me to someone who doesn't? Jonah did his research and expresses his thoughts well. Everyone should read this book!

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A review of "Liberal Fascism"

Fascism has historically been associated with the Right, meaning an Authoritarian system of government, acting in league with corporations. In this excellent book, Jonah Goldberg examines how, in modern practice, Fascism has become a product of the New Left. This is an extremely well written and scholarly book, and I think it should be required reading for all Political Science majors. While I am not one, I am a political junkie, and enjoyed it very much.

The naked liberals

this book exposes the truth about the left wing and the state of mind there in .there beliefs and there DBL standers.

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A well researched book that really opened my eyes.

I won't summarize this book since dozens of other reviewers have done so.

I will say that it is an extremely well-researched and incisive history of fascism and the left's relationship to it. I read a lot of pre-WWII fiction and was often surprised when I heard progressive-seeming characters utter fascist sounding viewpoints. Now I know why.

What keeps this book from getting 5 stars is that, in his zeal, I don't think Goldberg always consistently keeps to his definition of fascism as a "religion of the state." A few times Goldberg characterizes something as fascist because it displays an incidental quality of fascism rather than an essential one. For example, in one chapter he argues that certain films are fascist because they display Nietzschean themes, rather than because they advocate worship of and dependence on the state. While it could be argued that Nietzsch influenced fascism, he was not essential to it, or to state worship.

Despite it's flaws, however, I found this to be an excellent book that really opened my eyes to the authoritarianism of many liberal leaders.

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Finally Someone Did It

This is a book that was waiting to be written. For the longest time it seemed odd to me that Communism was placed on the left and Fascism on the right in the ideological continuum. The two systems always seemed more alike than different. In this book, the author explains why there is so much confusion on this point. The author argues, and I believe persuasively, that Communism and Fascism are not polar opposites but more like cousins. In doing so, the author goes back and examines the early history of Fascism and it ties to the Progressive movement in the U.S. The title of the book, allow provocative, is actually a phrase coined by Progressive and Fascist, H.G. Wells. The main point of the book is that the legacy of the modern day left in the U.S. is the Progressive movement which is philosophically rooted in Fascism.

The only criticisms of the book are that it was a little too academic, it jumped around with too many names/quotes/etc., and didn't flow smoothly. As a whole though, the book was well researched and a courageous effort.

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