Democracy failed in Europe during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Will it fail in the United States in these times? Fascism, an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization, has returned with a virulence that is terrifying. Yet the response of many Americans to its triumph under the agenda of President Donald Trump is the familiar response, "It can't happen here."
Henry A. Giroux, a world renowned scholar, author, and public intellectual, documents the anti-democratic actions of Trump's regime, including official and widespread lying, cutting budgets and social services for the poor, allowing tax breaks for already rich corporations and individuals, the endorsement of racial hatred, support of authoritarian systems, and boasting of America as Number One in the world. Readers of George Orwell and viewers of countless movies will recognize and lament the dark shadows of neo-fascism.
Giroux points to the hope and optimism of those who believe that young people will rise to the occasion and resist the malignant forces which are afoot in American political and cultural life. He has written another hard-hitting paperback that speaks truth to power with its visionary insights. In the foreword, James Baldwin is quoted:
"People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster."
