How Fascism Works

A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics throughout history--and identifies their horrifying rise in the United States and around the world.A scholar of philosophy and propaganda, and the child of refugees of WWII Europe, Jason Stanley has spent his life aware of the effects of fascist politics, but he''d spent less time considering its presence at home. In fact, as he discovered, the rise of fascist politics possible in the United States, but its roots have been here for more than a century. Drawing on history, philosophy, sociology, critical race theory, and examples from around the world 19th-century America to 20th-century Germany to 21st-century India--Stanley identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics: the mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectualism, unreality, hierarchy, victimhood, law and order, sexual anxiety, appeals to the heartland, and a dismantling of public welfare and unity. He uncovers urgent patterns that are as prevalent today as ever and pins down a diffuse, creeping sense that fascist tendencies are on the rise. By recognizing them, readers might begin to resist their most harmful effects.